Winters Tale
by Watson'sGirl
Summary: When Elizabeth Winters dies tragically in a car crash and wakes up in the Shire, she ends up accompanying the dwarven company along with a certain hobbit. BILBO/OC. Rated T for some violence and romance.
1. Chapter One - Elizabeth Winters

**Hey guys, this is obviously my first Hobbit fiction - I've had the idea for a while and thought I'd give it ago. This is going to be a mixture of movie-verse and book-verse. I am using the Modern Classics version of the book from my school, so some of the dialogue may be different.**

**I do not own the Hobbit or its character - I only own Elizabeth.**

**Enjoy**

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Everyone had irrational fears, for Elizabeth, the biggest one right at the top of a long long list is dying. The reasons for her fear of death is probably the same and possibly different as those of most people. People talk about what happens to us when we go, do we go to heaven and live on as a spirit watching over out loved ones? Or do we just rot in a hole in the ground, that what scares me the most, not knowing what lies ahead, that fear of the unknown. Sometimes she liked to think about what it would be like to be dead lying in a box with a lid on it, some people say that it is just like sleeping, but in a box, not that she would like to sleep in a box mind you, not without any air. Elizabeth not religious in any way so she didn't believe in a haven in the clouds, but then again she doesn't believe that life just ends, she wants to believe that there's something.

Elizabeth Winters is a normal 27-year-old woman from London, there is nothing out of the ordinary about her, except for one thing. Elizabeth is dead. It wasn't a gruesome or a heroic death, she wasn't viciously murdered or died saving someone's life. It was a car crash, plain and simple, it wasn't even her fault. One Tuesday morning she overslept for her morning shift at the coffee shop she owned along the London quay side, dragging herself out of bed Elizabeth hurried into her casual uniform - a pale blue dress which stopped just above the knees with elbow length sleeves and a thing white belt around the waist. After forcing some toast and tea down her throat, she slipped on a pair of matching white flat shoes, grabbed her car keys and purse and ran out of the front door of her apartment. When she pulled up to the first set of traffic lights, she hastily fixed her hair, tying it in a fish tail plait, Elizabeth decided to skip on the make up in order to save time. The light turned from red to green and she carefully accelerated into the busy intersecting road, suddenly the car lurched to one side, spinning, rolling, probably both she had no idea, her head whipped from side to side far too hard, she heard and felt a loud snap and then nothing. She never saw what had hit her. Elizabeth had a quick death, snapped neck, it was over in seconds however it wasn't as painless as she thought it would be, she felt everything, but it was fast.

The process of dying was also not like she had thought it would be, she's heard of hundreds stories where people have had a near death experience, most of them claimed to have seen a bright white light and their lives flashing before their eyes, and others where they describe the sensation as floating. Except she really was floating and she could feel the crisp cold water swirling around her weightless body as she thrashed around, no longer in control. Forcing her eyes open, Elizabeth could see nothing but clear waters for miles, the glare of the sunshine broke through the brim of the water enough for her to push herself upwards towards it. As she got closer to the surface, she felt something hard beneath her feet, solid ground. Clawing at the soggy earth with her fingers, she managed to drag her drenched body out of the water and rolled up on to the embankment. Elizabeth must have lain there hours as the sun had now gone and the moon was now visible, she closed her eyes, wanting to rest but there was suddenly many pairs of hands on her rolling her onto her back. She tried to sit up finding that she had no strength, the hands came to her aid, gently pulling her upright further than the sitting position so she was standing straight with two pairs of hands on her waist steadying her.

'Are you alright lass?' a voice asked, it had a hint of Scottish in there. 'Lass?' Elizabeth's head was becoming clearer now and her strength was beginning to regain itself. Lifting her head, she opened her eyes to look at whoever was talking to her. The first thing Elizabeth noticed was that there was a lot of people gathered around her, nine in total, eight of them were rather small and clad with fur and leather, even though they seemed small she was around the same height as them, maybe a little smaller. The odd one out was an elderly man, who was very tall, much much taller than me and he was dressed in a grey robe carrying a staff. 'Lassie, can you hear me?' The Scottish man asked, gently shaking her. Elizabeth moved her hands up to the ones on her waist and carefully lifted them off, wanting to stand on her own.

'Where am I?'

'My dear, you are in the Shire.' The old man said, smiling warmly.

'Okay...' She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She was still wearing her dress and flat shoes, which were soaked and clinging to her skin in a most revealing way. 'Thank you for helping me, but who are you all?'

'I am Gandalf, the wizard.' He smiled offering her his large hand.

'Elizabeth Winters' Gingerly she shook his hand, at the same time she curtsied. Why did I curtsy? She mentally kicked herself.

'A pleasure Lady Elizabeth, and this is Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, Gloin, Bifur, Bofur and Bombur. Members of the Dwarven Company.' Dwarves? He gestured to each individual, they waved and smile in turn. Elizabeth looked at them, trying to remember their names, she wrapped her arms around herself even tighter now as another wave of coldness flooded over her entire body, shaking it. 'Oh my dear, you're soaked to the bone. Is this the only clothes you have?' Gandalf asked. She nodded quickly, teeth chattering.

'Excuse me Lady Elizabeth' Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turned to see one of the dwarves, Ori she believed, standing in front of her holding a fur coat in his extended arms. 'You can wear my coat if you wish.' He gave a small, timid smile. She nodded her thanks, he ran around her to help her put it on, it's warm engulf her and she snuggled into the think fur collar.

'Come now, we must get to the meeting before Thorin does, or he will not be best pleased.' Bofur said.

'Thorin?'

'Thorin Oakenshield, King under the Mountain. He is the leader of our company and our quest.' He continued, pulling his large ruck sack back onto his shoulder. 'It will all be explained when we get there. You are coming with us?' He asked. 'Isn't she Master Gandalf?'

'Of course she is.' Gandalf confirmed looking down at her. 'Come along, before it gets too dark.' And with that they were all walking up the embankment and on to a long dusty dirt road, Elizabeth was still a little unsteady on her feet so she comfortably placed herself in between Bofur and Bombur. She was definitely getting better at matching their names to their faces. The walk lasted no more than fifteen minutes, until they stopped outside what she had heard Gloin call a 'hobbit hole'. It had a circular dark green door and small round windows on either side, the lights were on so who ever the home belonged to must have been expecting them. Gandalf reached over their heads and rapped on the door three times with the stump of the staff. Seconds later, some shuffling could be heard, the dwarves all pressed their ears to the door hoping to hear something when suddenly it swung open and they all tumbled inside the home one on top of the other, revealing a very flustered man in his bed robe.

'Gandalf' The man sighed. The wizard said nothing as he entered the house crouched down so much he was practically on his knees. Elizabeth moved forward to climb over the pile of dwarves that lay face down on the welcome mat, but decided against it seeing that she was only wearing a dress. Her cheeks flushed at the thought. Removing her coat she folded it over her arms, her clothes and hair was still wet but not so much that it bothered her, she waited as the dwarves picked themselves up of the floor and made their way through the house and into what must be the dining room. However, she remained at the door way, staring into the hallway. 'Hello?' the man said, noticing that she was still standing there.

'Hello.' Elizabeth replied sweetly. He looked at her slightly confused, he obviously didn't know why she was still standing there in the doorway. 'Sorry, but my clothes are still wet and I don't want to trail water into your home.' she said. 'And plus, you haven't invited me in.'

He remained standing there, looking at her in wonder. 'Well no one else seemed to mind.' He murmured looking in the same direction the dwarves disappeared off to. 'Bilbo Baggins.' He greeted extending his arm, gesturing her into his house. She smiled as she took his hand to shake it. 'Elizabeth Winters. Nice to meet you.'

'Likewise'

Okay this was now a tad awkward Elizabeth thought, there she was standing in the hallway of a man's home, a one who she'd just met, still in wet clothes which were now revealing the outline of her shapely breasts and bum far too much. Bilbo noticed her shifting uncomfortably. 'Would you erm...like a uh, robe?' Bilbo offered, awkwardly scratching the back of his neck with his hand.

'Please.' She nodded. 'Or if you have a spare shirt and trousers that would be wonderful, as you see...' She moved her hands and gestured towards her damp and dirty dress '...this is completely ruined.' She said with a shrug. Without a word, Mister Baggins scampered off into another room, more than likely his own bedroom. Elizabeth stood in the cosy hallway and listened to the buzz of conversation in the other room, she walked under the arch into the dining room to find four dwarves whom she did not know, the two sitting at the top of the table, one with dark wavy hair and the other with blond straight hair, they were both quite lean for dwarves, they both acknowledged her presence with a smile. Near the bottom of the table was a large dwarf, heavily muscular with a balding head and black tattoos, he looked up yet said nothing, next to him sat another elderly man, with a long white twisted beard. He patted the seat next to him, when he saw her standing in the archway, politely she obliged and sat next to the man.

'The name's Balin.' He said, shaking her hand, he then pointed to the large muscular man sitting next to him 'Dwalin, my brother. And those two up there' he pointed to them and as if on cue they both looked up, grinning childishly.

'Kili' Shouted the dark haired one, with a mouth full of food.

'Fili' The blond one said at a less obnoxious level as Kili. They had to be brothers, if the resemblance of their features, wasn't enough then there names were a dead give away.

'Elizabeth Winters' She was getting a bit tired of saying her own name, at least now this seemed to be everyone. The general chatter of the room continued but gradually became over run with Bilbo dashing about trying to keep his home under control.

'Those are my plates, excuse me! Not my wine! Put that back, put that back! Oh no, not the jam! Please...' I felt sorry for the poor man, or as Gandalf had informed me he was in fact a hobbit, whatever that was. 'No that chair is an antique. It's not for sitting on!' I thought it would be best if I offered him some help, however when I stood from my chair and moved towards the back of the room the collect some of the dirty plates from near Kili and Fili, I unsuccessfully dodged the scurrying dwarves and ended up spinning and falling right into Fili's lap. One arm grabbed my shoulder while the other had a firm place on the small of my back preventing me from falling on the floor. I suddenly remembered that my dress was still wet and was probably see through, I blushed furiously 'Oh my god. I'm so sorry, Fili!' I blurted, trying to make up for the awkwardness of the situation. Fili gave a small laugh, ignoring the looks his brother was giving us, he gracefully lifted me off his lap and placed me back on my own two feet on the floor.

'No harm done.' He winked. I wasted no time in getting out of the room as quickly as possible, I dashed into the hallway, bumping into Bilbo who was busy wrestling a bowl of tomatoes away from Nori.

'Oh sorry Bilbo!' I apologized.

'It's quite alright Lady Elizabeth.'

'Just Elizabeth please. Lady is far too formal' I sighed.

'Alright then Elizabeth.' He said slowly, testing out how it sounded. 'I've lain out some dry clothes on the bed in the guest room, it's just some old shirts and trousers and one of my mothers old bodices if you wish to use it.' Ignoring the commotion that was going on around him Bilbo showed Elizabeth to the guest room at the very end of the hallway. It was quieter down here, the noise in the dining room was just a dull sound in the background. Opening the door Elizabeth walked into the guest room, admiring the mixture of dark and lighten wooden textures of the walls and floors, the rich green and reds of the fabric of the curtains and bed spreads. On the bed, she saw the spare clothes lain out neatly completely crease free. 'You can sleep here for tonight.' Bilbo said leaning against the door frame. 'That is if you want to of course.' He stammered upon realizing how forward he sounded.

'Thank you Bilbo.' Elizabeth laughed, moving towards the door to close it, Bilbo stood there motionless watching her. 'Uh Bilbo, I'm going to need to close the door.' She laughed again, she was in such a good mood that the next thing that came out of her mouth she had no idea why she said it. 'Unless you want to stand and watch me undress.' She whispered, leaning closer. As soon as she said it, she gasped and pulled back upright, she had no idea why she said it. In her other life she had been a bit of a flirt, but isn't everyone, she's known Bilbo all of five minutes and she was already teasing him. She gave a light-hearted giggle when she saw how red his face had become. 'Bilbo, could you please close the door.' Slowly he obediently obliged, swinging the door shut as he back out of the room.

'What is wrong with you?!' Elizabeth mentally scolded herself, walking over to the bed and picking up the trousers. They were made of a brown and dark orange tweed like material it looked rough but it was soft to touch, the had thick black braces attached onto the waist band. Desperate to get out of her soggy clothes, Elizabeth kicked off her shoes, tearing her dress up and over her head in one swift movement, discarding it on the floor leaving her in nothing but her underwear. She took the opportunity to see if she had any visible injuries from the crash, she moved to stand in front of the tall standing mirror and observed her body. She was chubby, there was no other way to say it, maybe ample. Elizabeth had always thought that her body was a bit out of proportion, her hip had always been rounder than most of the girls she knew, they made up for her lack of bum and breasts. Seeing that there was no visible scars, she untied her plait and allowed it to fall into place halfway down her back, running her fingers through her dark brown hair she pulled it to one side, draping it across her shoulders, her fringe framing her face, she pulled on the trousers. Feeling the cold a bit now, she grabbed the crisp white shirt from the bed and pulled it on, it was a mans shirt judging by the laces up the front, it must have been Bilbo's, it smelt like Bilbo. Ignoring the tight twisting burning in her stomach, she laced up the shirt and buttoned the cuffs of the puffy sleeves. Elizabeth didn't like how low cut the shirt was and not wanting to go out there into a room of fourteen men with the top half of her breasts on show, she fastened the bodices which Bilbo had given her. This failed to make a difference, if anything it made it worse, it didn't flatten like it was supposed to but it rather lifted her breasts. 'It'll have to do' she sighed and tucked the shirt into the trousers, snapping on the braces. Elizabeth folded up her dress not wanting to leave it on the floor, she hung it out of the window to dry before leaving the bedroom and heading back towards the dining room to join the company.

**OoO**

As harsh as it sounded, there was not really anything astonishingly radiant about Elizabeth Winters, she wasn't an exquisite beauty, but to Bilbo she was beautiful in a less noticeable way. She was sweet, funny and hugely independent. During the time she was getting changed, Gandalf had informed him of how they came across her, she had told them about her death on the walk to Bilbo's, he had no idea what it must feel like to be ripped from your existing life and thrown into another one, completely different to the previous.

'Hey Bilbo, you wouldn't happen to have any spare shoes would you?' He turned upon hearing the voice behind him, to see Elizabeth now wearing _his _clothes. Bilbo had been wrong, she was beautiful, in fact she was gorgeous. 'Bilbo?' She asked again.

'None that would fit you.' He said holding up his over sized foot in comparison. Fortunately at this precise moment, Balin happened to walk past, smoking his pipe.

'I think I have some spare ones in the travel bags. They may be too large for you Lass, there for the lads after all.' He smiled.

'That would be perfect, thank you Balin.'

The sound of scraping metal interrupted them as Bilbo ran into the dining room to find almost the entire company hitting the knives and forks of each other, apparently trying to make some kind of music. 'Can you not do that please, you'll blunt them!'

'Ooo, do you hear that lads?' Bofur laughed. 'He said we'll blunt the knives.'

_Blunt the knives, bend the forks_

_Smash the bottles and burn the corks_

_Chip the glass and burn the plates_

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

Elizabeth ducked to avoid being struck by flying plates and cutlery, where as Bilbo was furious and panicking at the same time.

_Cut the cloth and tread the fat_

_Leave the bones on the bedroom mat_

_Pour the milk on the pantry floor_

_Splash the wine on every door_

_Dump the crocks in a boiling bowl _

_Pound them up with a thumping pole_

_When you're finished, if any are whole_

_Send them down the hall to roll!_

Bilbo was dashing about, trying to catch plates as they flew past.

_That's what Bilbo Baggins hates!_

The song ended as Bilbo got into the kitchen fearing the worst, only to find that all the plates and cutlery are neatly piled up on the kitchen counters, all intact. The dwarves and Gandalf laugh, it isn't too long before Elizabeth pops up from hiding under the table, avoiding the cross fire, laughing also. Suddenly there are three heavy pounds on the door and the room goes silent.

'He is here.' Gandalf simply said.

Bilbo pushed his way out of the room in order to get to the door quickly, but found that Elizabeth had beaten him to it and was already turning the door handle. She pulled the door open with two hands, it was a lot heavier than it looked. There in the doorway stood a dwarf dressed head to foot in jet blacks and rich blues, he had long thick black hair and a beard to match, he sure was intimidating. Without waiting to be invited in, he looked Elizabeth up and down and walked straight past her and into the hallway.

'Gandalf. I thought you said this place would be easy to find. I lost my way twice.' He grumbled pulling off his cloak. 'So this is the hobbit.' He turned to face Bilbo.

'Bilbo Baggins, Elizabeth, allow me to introduce you to the leader of our company, Thorin Oakenshield.'

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**I hope you liked it, let me know with a review or a follow or favourite!**

**-Watson'sGirl-**


	2. Chapter Two - Signing The Contract

**I do not own the Hobbit or it's characters or Lord Of The Rings.**

**Special thanks to Aclockworkkatelyn, BloodBlackAlchemist, Vulcanlover12, LadyGryffindor313, LiTtLeMiSsPeRfEcT4465, Mnbow07, Rae01, aquakim and nachobeats823 for the follow/favourite and reviews.**

**Another hug huge thank you to lolomolly for adding my story to her community!**

**Enjoy**

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'Tell me Mr Baggins, have you done much fighting?'

'Pardon me?' Bilbo was extremely confused.

'Axe or sword? What's your weapon of choice?' He asked again.

'Well I have some skill at conkers, if you must know, but I fail to see how this is irrelevant.'

'I thought as much, he looks more like a grocer than a burglar.' Thorin grumbled again, gaining laughs from the rest of the company. 'What about you?' He said, turning to look down at Elizabeth as she shut the door behind him.

'I've never fought sir.' She said timidly.

'Doesn't surprise me, you are a woman. It is not in your nature.' He almost hissed.

'Really?' Elizabeth exclaimed. 'And what is in my nature?' She stood tall with her hands on her hips.

'Well maintaining the house hold for a start, but saying as there is no children around I suppose that is a rather easy job.' Thorin said, earning a disgusted glare from Elizabeth.

'Okay listen here you sexist pig, first of all just because I am a woman does not mean that I am not capable of fighting. Secondly Bilbo and I are not together, not married at all, and finally.' She paused, brandishing a dagger from the back of her trousers which she found in the bedroom and thought it may come in handy. 'Sword.' she hissed. Thorin was taken back as well as embarrassed, not only had he received a scolding but by a woman!

Balin came to the rescue once again, he pulled Thorin into the living room, the rest of the company followed. 'What news of the meeting with Ered Luin? What did the Dwarves of the Iron Hill say, will they come?' he asked.

'No.' Thorin scowled. 'They say this quest is our and ours alone.' The dwarves grumbled in disappointment and they all moved from the crowded hallway back into the dining room, taking their places once again at the table. Elizabeth and Bilbo joined them also, the room was already pretty congested with the fourteen dwarves, plus Gandalf sitting around the table but they managed to squish in next to Thorin, standing behind him as he addressed his company. 'Ravens have been seen flying back to the mountain as it was foretold: When the birds of yore return to Erebor, the reign of the beast will end.'

'Beast?' Bilbo asked, popping his head up from behind Thorin's.

'Aye lad, Smaug the Terrible.' Bofur interjected across the table 'The greatest calamity of our age. An air-borne fire breather with teeth like razors, claws like meat hooks. He extremely fond of precious metals you know -'

'Yes, yes, I know what a dragon is.' Bilbo was getting frustrated again.

'I'm not afraid! I'll give him a taste of dwarven metal right up hi jacksie!' Ori declared, looking around proudly as the other dwarves cheered and shouted for him, Elizabeth laughed and clapped at the young dwarves enthusiasm.

'Even with an army, the task would be difficult.' Balin said 'But we number just thirteen, and not thirteen of the best or the brightest for that matter.' Balin looked around the table at the rest of the company, who were strongly and loudly objecting to his insults. 'We may be few in numbers, but we will fight to the last man!' Fili shouted. 'And you forget, we are in the presence of a powerful Wizard. Who knows how many dragons Gandalf has slain.' Kili jumped up, slamming his fist against the table.

'How many?' Dori asked, turning to Gandalf, who spluttered with his answer too long for the dwarves liking. 'Well give us a number!' Dori demanded, rising from his seat. The room was soon in uproar as the dwarves all started to shout at Gandalf, demanding to know how many dragons he'd slain. Thorin's thundering voice suddenly boomed over the shouting and fighting, and soon enough a deadly silence spread across the room.

'If we have read these signs, then what makes you think that other have not read them also? I have been listening, and rumors have begun to spread that the dragon Smaug has not been seen for over 60 years. Eyes are looking east to the mountain, assessing and weighing the risk. Perhaps the vast wealth of our people now lies unprotected. Do we just sit back while others claim, what is rightfully ours, or do we seize this chance, and take back Erebor? _Du Bekar! Du Bekar!_ The rest of the company joining in the aggressive battle cries, stamping their feet and clapping their hands together.

'That being said' Gandalf said softly once the atmosphere had died down and all was calm again, 'It seems you are forgetting something Thorin.' He nodded behind Thorin to where Bilbo and Elizabeth were still standing, slightly confused by all that was going on around them. 'We are still in need of a burglar, possibly two.' The whole company turned to look in Bilbo and Elizabeth's direction. They looked at each other for a brief moment before whipping their heads back round to the company, when they realised what they meant.

'No no no. I'm not a burglar!' Elizabeth protests mixed with Bilbo's cries of 'Me? I've never stolen anything in my life!' Every single member of the company ignored them completely, and started shouting again about Bilbo and Elizabeth not being burglar material. The dwarves started getting a bit aggressive, shouting at the pair of them, asking how many things they had stolen. Elizabeth looked over to where Gandalf was sitting, her eyes pleaded for him to help her.

'Enough! If I say that Mr Baggins and Lady Winters are burglars, then burglars they are!' He slammed his staff on the hard wood floor, his voice powerful. 'Hobbits are remarkably light on their feet, in face they can pass unseen by most if they wish too. And as for Lady Winters, although she is not of Middle Earth, I trust her.' He gracefully moved from his spot in the corner and sat by Thorin, leaning down to him 'You'd be wise to do the same.'

Thorin stared up at Gandalf, his dark eyes intense against the great wizards, sighing, he then turned to Bilbo and Elizabeth looking them up and down. Sure they were both equally as small as each other, they looked pretty similar and completely different at the same time, the biggest difference being that Bilbo had large, over size hair feet where as Elizabeth had rather petite ones with next to no hair on them at all. 'If she is not of Middle Earth, then what is she?' He asked.

'An Earthling'

'Very well Gandalf. We shall do it your way.' Thorin said, turning to Balin who was in the process of pulling a rather long sheet of paper out of his satchel, unraveling it onto the table. 'Give them the contract.' Balin reached over, handing the contract to Thorin, who in turn passed it over to Elizabeth silently. He watched as the two burglars held the contract reading it together, discussing each section. 'I cannot guarantee their safety. Nor will I be responsible for their fates.' He whispered sternly hushed enough so that no one within ear shot could hear.

'Agreed' the wizard said.

**OoO**

Elizabeth had no idea what was happening, one moment they were having a merry feast and then the next she and Bilbo were holding a very detailed contract stating the terms of their quest, a quest which without a doubt would be a long and dangerous one. She moved into the hallway alongside Bilbo as they both read the contract, the further down the page they got to more ridiculous it got, earning a squeak from Elizabeth 'Evisceration?' She gasped, looking to Bilbo, who had also gone pale all of a sudden.

'Incineration?' He stressed.

'Oh aye. Smaug, he'll melt to flesh right of your bone in the blink of an eye' Bofur said nonchalantly smoking his pipe.

'Great.' Elizabeth patted Bilbo's hand as he looked rather pale and breathless. 'Bilbo? Are you alright?' she asked him as he swayed a little.

'Uh yeah...just feel a bit faint.' He threw a shaky smile in her direction.

'Do you need some air -'

'Think furnace with wings.' Bofur interrupted clearly finding the distraught hobbit humorous. 'Flash of light, searing pain, and then poof! You're noting more than a pile of ash.'

'Bofur!' Elizabeth scolded him like a parent would a child, still holding onto Bilbo's hand, he was now breathing heavily trying to compose himself in front of the dwarves.

'Hmm' he murmured, sliding his hand away from Elizabeth's with a thankful smile. Closing his eyes briefly he looked at her shaking his head. 'Nope.' He said is he fell to the floor in a faint. 'Oh, Bilbo!' Elizabeth squeaked, kneeling down next to him. She pushed the light brown curls from over his eyes, and lightly patted his cheek getting no response. She knelt upright, hands on hips. 'Well done Bofur.'

**OoO**

It was a while before Bilbo woke up, when he did he found that he was not on the hallway floor nor was he in his bed, he was sitting upright in his favourite chair by the fireplace. It was dark, much darker than when the eventful night had begun so he guessed that it must be the very middle of the night, the warmth of the roaring fire was so relaxing that Bilbo could have easily returned into his slumber; he hadn't even notice the small pair of delicate hands running their fingers through his hair, soothing him. 'Feeling better?' Looking towards the voice he saw a pair of beautiful soft pale green eyes staring back at him, watching him carefully. 'Bilbo?' It was Elizabeth, she looked exhausted as though she's never left his side the whole time he'd been asleep.

'How long have I been out for?' He asked rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand.

'Almost an hour.' Elizabeth replied, handing him a mug of what appeared to be a hot drink of some kind. 'I think Gandalfs getting a bit impatient, he keeps walking around grumbling about blasted hobbits.' She smiled. It was true that Gandalf was growing more and more restless by each passing minutes, after waling past several times and finding Bilbo still resting the chair, he returned this time to see him awake.

'Tell me Mr Baggins, since when did doilies and your mother's dishes become so important to you?' Gandalf asked standing in front of Bilbo's chair. 'I remember a young hobbit who was always running off in search of elves in the woods, who's stay out late, trailing mud, twigs and fireflies. A young hobbit who would have liked for nothing better than to find out what was beyond the border of the Shire. The world is not in your books and you maps; it's out there.'

'I can't just go running off into the blue. I am a Baggins, of Bag End.' Bilbo declared.

'You are also a Took.' Gandalf said picking up a portrait of a man drawn on a piece of fabric. 'Did you know that your great-great-great-great-uncle, Bullroarer Took, was so large he could ride a real horse.' He handed to portrait down to Elizabeth and she observed it with interest and fascination. She turned the picture of finding an inscription on the back.

'The Battle Of Green Fields.' She read.

'In the Battle Of Green Fields, Bullroarer Took charged the goblin ranks. He swung his club so hard that it knocked the Goblin's Head clean off, and it sailed a hundred yards through the air and went down a rabbit hole. And thus the battle was won and the game of golf invented at the same time.' Elizabeth laughed at this.

'I do believe you made that up.'

'Oh come on Bilbo, imagine all the amazing stories we will have to tell when we get back!' Elizabeth exclaimed excitedly bouncing up and down on her stool next to his chair.

'Can you promise that we will come back?' Bilbo whispered looking in her eyes. Seeing their shine quickly fade he turned to Gandalf 'Can you?'

Gandalf shook his head briskly 'I'm afraid I cant. But if you do, the two of you will not be the same.'

'That's what I thought.' Bilbo said resting a hand on Elizabeth's arm. 'I'm sorry, I can't sign this. You've got the wrong hobbit.' He rose slowly, turned and walked out of the room and into the hallway with out so much as a upwards glance at the rest of the company who we now all gathered in the room. Elizabeth watched as he went around the corner, out of sight mumbling to himself.

'What do we do now?' She said to the whole room.

'Well it appears that we have lost one of our burglars. Probably for the best.' Balin said. 'The odds were always against us. After all, what are we? Merchants, miners, tinkers; hardly the stuff of legends.'

'I will take each and every one of these dwarves over a army any day, I trust them with my life. Loyalty. Honor and a willing heart, I can ask for no more than that.' Thorin said, looking into the fireplace deep in thought.

'You still have one burglar.' Thorin turned to the small at the end of the mantle piece, where Elizabeth was now leaning on her hands watching him. 'I will still help you, if you want me to.'

'No lass.' Was all he said. She bit her lip and slowly nodded her head, 'Okay.' She moved away from the mantle piece holding her hands up in surrender 'Fine.' With that she moved and sat on the cushioned chest by the window where Dwalin was sitting. The room remained silent for what seemed like hours before a deep, rumble filled the room, at first Elizabeth thought that it was the wind blowing outside, but when the rumble intensified she saw that it was in fact the dwarves, they were humming together. Suddenly, but very quietly, Thorin began to sing in a deep baritone stanza.

_Far over, the misty mountains cold_

_To dungeons deep and caverns old_

_We must away, ere break of day_

_To find our long-forgotten gold._

Dwalin had now rose from his seat at the window and was standing next to Thorin by the fireplace. The rest of the company moved with him, leaving Elizabeth by the window alone as they all started to sing in the same deep stanza.

_The pines were roaring, on the height_

_The winds were moaning, in the night_

_The fire was red, it flaming spread_

_The trees like torches blazed with light._

Not wanting to disturb the somber atmosphere that had now descended upon the living room, Elizabeth gracefully crept towards the archway leading from the room without making a sound. She passed Gandalf who was sitting in the corner of the room smoking his pipe. 'Do not worry Elizabeth.' He whispered placing he gentle hand on her shoulder. 'Something tells me that Mr Baggins will change his mind.'

'And what if he doesn't?'

'Then there is nothing we can do I'm afraid.'

'Well unless he does, you can count me out. Thorin has made it clear that I'm not welcome. Goodnight Gandalf.' Elizabeth said smiling at the kind old wizard.

'Goodnight Elizabeth Winters.' She walked out of the room and tip toed down the hallway until she came to a slightly ajar door with a soft glow of a candle flowing out of the crack in the door, approaching it cautiously she heard some scuffling and the mutters of Bilbo as he cursed the dwarves. Elizabeth placed her hand on the door, ready to knock and ask permission to enter, but decided against it. It had been a long day and all she wanted to do was rest, she lightly ran to the guest room and went to close the door behind her. She then realized that she had nothing to sleep in, she couldn't sleep in the shirt it was far too cold, glancing down the hallway she saw Bilbo's door was still slightly open, gingerly she approached and knocked lightly in case he was already sleeping. 'Bilbo?' No reply 'Bilbo, it me, are you awake?' She heard some light shuffling and at the door appeared Bilbo.

'I thought you would be discussing the quest with the rest of the company.' Bilbo yawned.

'I'm not going.' Elizabeth said crossing her arms over her chest.

'What? Why? You were all excited a few moments ago.'

'As I said to Gandalf, Thorin has made it perfectly clear that he does not want me tagging alone.' She said leaning against to door frame. 'What I came to ask was, do you have a night gown or anything I could borrow, I have nothing.'

'Oh.' Bilbo squeaked 'Hold on one minute' he said as he disappeared back into his room, returning seconds later with a long cream night gown. 'This may be a bit too long for you, it's mine you see.' He smiled, she was only about a inch smaller than he was.

'Thank you Bilbo' She took the night gown and for some reason, again much to her surprised stretched up onto her tip toes and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. As soon as she pressed her lips to his cheek she felt his face flush with warmth as he fiercely blushed. She pulled away shocked by her actions. 'Okay, good night.' She blurted, the sentence was a string of jumbled letters as she ran to the safety of her own room, where the quickly took of her clothes and pulled on the night shirt, it was long on her, it covered her feet. She threw herself on the bed and lay there scolding herself for being so stupid, raising a hand to her own cheek she felt that much like Bilbo's it was hot and prickly. What is happening, she thought as she crawled under the covers, blowing out the candle on her bed side table. The warm of the woolen blanket and thick covers completely over powered her exhaustion and she quickly but gently fell into a deep slumber, smiling as her lips still tingled.

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**I hope people don't mind that I'm setting the pace of the story as quite slow. You see, I planned out everything that I was going to include in all the chapters leading up to the end of the first movie, and some things seemed to be happening far too quickly, so I've decided to slow the chapter down and trying to include most of the stuff from both the film and the book.**

**Let me know what you think, if you have any ideas you would like me to include, feel free to PM me or to leave a review. Criticism is always accepted as it helps me better my writing.**

**-Watson'sGirl-**


	3. Chapter Three - Going On An Adventure

**I do not own the Hobbit or its characters or Lord Of The Rings.**

**Thanks to ladymoonscar, jazica, Tabithasauld, KitsuneReid and nbowles for following and favouriting.**

**xxxMadameMysteryxxx - Thank you for the review! In answer to your question, this story is 100% a Bilbo/OC as I have noticed that there aren't that many out there.**

**Also I need everyone's help with another one of my stories. I need four, or maybe more, male names. They can either be Hobbiton names or Dwarven names, I don't really mind. I already have some female names I'm going to choose from but I am seriously struggling with male ones. Leave me a review with your suggestions or PM me :)!**

**Enjoy**

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Elizabeth groaned as the first rays of dawn seeped in through the crack in the curtains, landing on the left side of her face; scrunching her eyes and nose she slowly pulled herself up right. Elizabeth didn't wake up thinking that she had dreamed everything that had happened the previous day, she knew where she was, she was in Bag End, and she was still dead, no changing that.

It didn't upset her all too much thinking about the fact that she could never go home, she didn't really have a home to begin with. Her mother and father were separated, it was ugly watching her family being torn apart, her mother moved to South America after the divorce. That was twelve years ago and not once has she ever called or written Elizabeth, it was almost as if she didn't want to know her anymore. Elizabeth and her father moved from London to Scotland, where they lived until she was twenty-one when she moved back down to London on her own, admittedly it was tough to begin with she really missed her father, they'd grown so close over the past six years.

Elizabeth hadn't noticed that her eyes had now begun to mist over a go teary until she felt a few small droplets of water hit her hands folded in her lap, briskly wiping them away she climbed out of bed to retrieve her clothes from the dresser. As she moved across the room, she ran her fingers through her tangled hair smoothing it out until it was running naturally wavy down her back; lifting the night-gown up and over her head, neatly folding it placing it on the bed, she quickly dressed. Once she was fully dressed in the same attire as yesterday, Elizabeth stood in front of the standing mirror looking at her appearance, she looked tired, exhausted in fact, she guessed that she must have only managed to get five or so hours sleep. Her stomach rumbled quite loudly, telling her that it was time for breakfast, before leaving for the kitchen, Elizabeth retrieved her dress from the window where it was blowing gently in the early morning breeze and placed it folded alongside the night-gown on the bed.

Being careful as not to wake Bilbo up as she passed his bedroom door, she tip toed down the hall way into the pantry in search of something to eat. Of course there was hardly anything eatable left on the shelves after the feast last night, but on the top shelf Elizabeth found a small secret stash which Bilbo must have hidden, there was tomatoes, some mushrooms and a handful of meat which appeared to be sausages. 'It'll have to do' Elizabeth said to herself as she walked into the kitchen to prepare breakfast.

In the middle of frying the tomatoes and mushrooms, the events of the previous night were replaying over again in her head. The dwarves seemed pretty down hearted once Bilbo told them he would not be joining them, she wondered how they reacted when they found out that neither of their burglars would be coming along, not that Thorin would be all too upset as he didn't seem to thrilled with the whole idea of it in the first place, he had made that perfectly clear. Her memories brought her back to what had happened just before she went to bed, she had kissed Bilbo, not kissed him on the lips it was on the cheek, but it was a kiss none the less. It wasn't bad to say that it was a pleasant feeling, was it? Elizabeth had kissed other people before but there was something about this particular one that made her stomach turn and made her happy. Yes Bilbo was quite handsome, very handsome in fact, yes he was sweet and kind, friendly and quite frankly adorable, Elizabeth giggled to herself as she recalled how red Bilbo's face had turned as her lips pressed against his cheek, it was cute. She smiled to herself as she felt her cheeks suddenly flare up thinking about it, she returned her focus back to the cooking.

The smell of fried mushrooms and cooking sausages spread around the kitchen like wild-fire, it smelt so deliciously good that Elizabeth couldn't help but lick her lips in hunger. A few minutes later and the food was done, she had made sure that she had prepared enough food for both herself and Bilbo, although she had no idea when he would wake up, the poor hobbit must have been exhausted. As if on cue she heard the faint sound of a door creaking open and someone walking slowly down the hallway, she stood and waited to plate up her food, hoping that it would be Bilbo and not a dwarve who decided to stay the night. 'Hello?' she heard from around the corner. Elizabeth smiled and quickly grabbed two plates, spooning equal amounts of food onto them and served them on the table ready to eat. Sure enough, seconds later Bilbo rounded the corner cautiously, fully dressed in the same things as last night. He looked quite surprised to see Elizabeth was still there. 'Oh. Good morning Elizabeth.'

'Morning Bilbo.' She smiled pleasantly. 'I made some breakfast, hop you don't mind.'

'No, not at all.' He looked down at the plate before sitting at the table. 'I'm surprised that there was any food left, they all but pillaged the pantry.' he sighed looking around the room.

'There was no one here when I woke up, so I think we're safe to eat.' Elizabeth laughed and Bilbo chuckled with her. They sat in a somewhat uncomfortable silence as they ate, Elizabeth could tell that Bilbo was feeling awkward about sitting this quiet for this long, she was desperately trying to think of something to say to strike up a conversation but could not think of anything else to talk about other than the kiss. Like she said before, it wasn't that big of a deal, so why were they being so awkward around each other like they were walking on egg shells, and why did she now have a twisted feeling in her stomach every time she so much as even thought of Bilbo let alone look or speak to him? Bilbo was the first to speak, to Elizabeth's surprise.

'Gandalf told me how he found you by the lake.' He said so quietly it was almost a whisper. 'If you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?' Bilbo asked wearily.

'I died, that's what happened.' She heard Bilbo take a sharp breath, he was not prepared for that answer. 'I was in a car accident.' Bilbo looked confused. 'A car. It's like a large metal box with seats and wheels, anyway I was on my way to work when I was hit by another car. I must have died on impact, I only felt my neck snap and then suddenly I was at the bottom of the lake, swimming for my life. That's when Gandalf and the others found me.' 'I mean sure, dying is obviously terrible, but to me I'm not dead. I've been given a second chance, I guess.' Elizabeth said, blinking back tears that were threatening to escape. She blink, brushing them away and looked up feeling Bilbo's hands resting on hers.

'I'm sorry, I did not mean to upset you. It sounded like a terrible ordeal.' He said, gently patting her hand.

'You know what?' She smiled, pushing her plate away with her free hand. 'It wasn't that terrible to be honest.'

'A second chance at what?' Bilbo asked, looking at her quite amazed.

'Life I suppose. My other life wasn't so bad, but it was nowhere near as exciting as this has been.' Elizabeth removed her hands from under Bilbo's and grabbed their empty plates taking them to the sink, she hadn't realised that there was more plates and cups in the sink, covered in the crumbs and the grease from whatever was eaten from it. Rolling up her sleeve, Elizabeth set about scrubbing the dishes, making a pile of wet dishes on the side bench.

'Do you miss it?' She jumped a little, she hadn't noticed that Bilbo had come up next to her and was now drying the dishes. 'Your home?'

'I know that I should, I really should, but I don't. It's like, I want to cry all the time, but I just can't.' She sighed, frustrated with herself.

'But surely you have a family, don't you miss them?' Bilbo asked.

'I _had _a family Bilbo.' Elizabeth finished washing the remaining few dishes and help Bilbo dry them. 'My parents separated when I was fifteen, I lived with my father and my mother moved to another part of the world to me, I haven't seen or even spoken to her since their separation. That was twelve years ago.' She picked up a pile of plates and took them over to a near by cupboard to put them away. 'Why would I miss her?' She put the plates down a bit harder than she meant to causing a loud clatter, Bilbo quickly came over and took them from her and put them in the cupboard before turning to her.

'It's okay to be upset, Elizabeth. God knows what I would do if I were in your position.' Bilbo said.

'I'm not upset.' Bilbo gave her a stern look. 'Honest. Anyway how could I be upset when I'm having so much fun.' She laughed and Bilbo chuckled lightly. 'Bilbo, why wouldn't you go with them?' Elizabeth whispered, cautiously producing the contract from her back pocket, handing it to Bilbo, who looked at it quite taken back by her question.

'Does it really matter why?'

'Not to me, but still, why? They needed your help.'

'Well whatever they needed that desired my help, they chose the wrong hobbit. I'm not a dwarven warrior.' Bilbo stressed. Elizabeth took his hands again, holding them tightly and close to her chest.

'They weren't asking you be a warrior Bilbo, they needed a burglar, what that is I have no idea but they needed you none the less. Why wouldn't you help them, why? ' She whispered to him as he stared down at her.

'I was scared okay!' Bilbo exclaimed. 'Terrified in fact. If we were to have gone on that quest who knows what was waiting for us or if we would even come back.'

'We would of, they would have protected us.'

'We're not one of them Elizabeth, we don't belong with them!' Bilbo was getting frustrated. 'I belong here in Bag End.' Bilbo said, and Elizabeth fell silent, her face dropping, turning sad.

'What about me?' She whispered, looking up at Bilbo.

'What do you mean?'

'Well, if you belong here in Bag End, then where do I belong?' Bilbo felt his heart twinge with sympathy for Elizabeth, lost and lonely. How was he supposed to respond to that? He didn't want to offend her in any way by telling her else where, so he silently pulled his hands from hers and turned, leaving the room. He was trying to prevent her from getting hurt, after all he did consider her a friend, maybe a close friend, even if they had only known each other not even a day. When Bilbo left the room, Elizabeth remained there in her own solitude, trying to figure out the answer to her question. where did she belong?

**OoO**

Bilbo stalked down the hallway and in to his bedroom with out looking back. There was not even a remotely slight chance that he was going to cave in and run off looking for these dwarves, he pushed the door closed behind him, he didn't slam it shut although he wanted to mainly because he was angry, not at the dwarves or Elizabeth, but at himself. He had let his dull and gutless existence become too important to him; he remembered what Gandalf had said the night before about a young hobbit who was always looking for a new adventure, he remembered the feeling of thinking that he could do anything in the world. He so desperately wanted to feel that again, but the truth was that Bilbo was scared. As a child he would have loved nothing more than to go on a quest to battle a dragon and find a long lost city buried with it's golden treasure, but now, Bilbo spent most of his time tending the garden and growing fruits and vegetables which was a fine life for an ordinary hobbit, but since a very young age it was plain to see that Bilbo Baggins was no ordinary hobbit.

Bilbo was so trapped in his own thoughts that he forgot for a moment that he was in fact holding the contract, scrunching it in his tightly closed fists. He lay it out on the bed smoothing the creases out until it was eligible to read again. 'Okay. Terms of the contract.' He read. 'Cash on delivery, up to but not exceeding one fourteenth of total profit, if any.' He paused, one fourteenth, that was still a _lot_ of gold. 'Seems fair. Present company shall not be liable for injuries inflicted by or sustained as a consequence thereof including lacerations, evisceration and incineration.' Now he remembered, this was where he fainted last time, this is what caused him to be scared in fact just thinking about what Bofur said about having the flesh melted right off of his bones was enough to make Bilbo go light headed. Taking a slowly deep breath he carried on reading, picking out specific points of the contract.

'Without limiting the foregoing, Burglar expressly and forever waives any and all claims that Burglar may now or here after have in respect and in any jurisdiction to the so-called "Moral Rights" with respect to the recovered goods. Burglar understands that he or she embarks upon this adventure at his or her own financial as well as personal risk.'

'Can't complain with that.' Bilbo muttered to himself, he continued to scan down the parchment, before reaching the bottom signature line where there was already three names signed.

Signed: Thorin son of Thrain

Witnessed: Balin son of Fundin

Burglar: Elizabeth Winters

All it need was a fourth and final signature.

**OoO**

Elizabeth was reading peacefully in the living room, the same room where everything fell apart the night before. She sighed in frustration, now it wasn't because of Bilbo and what he said, or rather what he _didn't _say, she was annoyed with herself for not being able to let the subject go. Bilbo was right, why does it matter that he didn't want to go with the dwarves? Elizabeth had read the contract so she knew exactly how Bilbo was feeling, so why was she being so pushy about it. It possibly had something to do with the fact that she really wanted to go, she loved a good adventure, but she didn't want to go without Bilbo, she didn't understand why she was feeling like this, when Bilbo was around she was happy and elevated, the death didn't bother her, but then when she was alone that's what she felt, alone.

Closing the book, she ran her fingers over the wooden carved cover absent-minded, and thought about what she should do next. She could follow the dwarves herself she supposed, but she knew all to well that by doing so, she would have probably ruined her friendship with Bilbo; he was someone who she considered to be a dear friend, after all he did take her in when she had no where else to go, he gave her food and clothes for which she was so entirely grateful for. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by two loud thumps behinds her, causing her to jump, actually lifting out of her chair.

'Oh!' Elizabeth exclaimed, spinning around top look over the back of the chair. 'God Bilbo, you scared the life out of me!' She breathed a heavy sigh of relief placing a hand on her fast beating heart when she saw Bilbo leaning against the archway smiling. Her breathing returned back to normal, and she stood up from the chair and moved to where he was standing. 'You seem to be in a better mood.' She smiled, looking down to see what had been dropped on the floor. She had to do a quick double take when she saw the two heavily packed ruck sacks lying side by side on the floor in the hallway. She looked at them slightly confused before looking back up to Bilbo, shaking her head lightly.

'Coming?' Bilbo said, smiling his arms folded across his chest. It took Elizabeth all but two seconds before she understood what he meant, she grinned and ran over to Bilbo, throwing her arms around his neck hugging him tightly. Bilbo happily returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her waist as they gently rocked side to side laughing. They stayed like that for a moment, until Bilbo awkwardly cleared his throat at that Elizabeth stepped out of the hug, a little embarrassed.

'So...' She said, looking down at the bags. 'Which one is mine?' They both grinned widely at each other and the next thing Elizabeth knew, they had grabbed their coats and ruck sacks and were sprinting out of the front door of bag end, letting it slam behind them. Bilbo was obviously used to running along the dirt paths, where as Elizabeth struggled to keep up, she kept stumbling as they weaved through Hobbiton. Bilbo must have seen her struggles so reached back to grab her hand, tugging her long with him, she laughed as they hopped over fences and narrowly avoided trampling some poor farmer's pumpkins managing to leap over them at the last second. Neighbours shake their heads as the pair sprint down the paths and around corners.

'Hey, Mr Bilbo! Where are you off to?' One shouted as we ran past.

'Sorry we can't stop, we're already late!' Bilbo yelled back as we carried on running up a incline track.

'Late for what?

'We're going on an adventure!'


	4. Chapter Four - Welcome To The Company

**I do not own the Hobbit or its characters or Lord Of The Rings.**

**Thank you movielover01, BeanieBaby96, cutey4560, Ruri7533, Tech Support ilovedracoDH, crumpdoreen and greenXteaX96 for following and favouriting.**

**Mnbow07 - aww thank you so much for your lovely review!**

**ilovedracoDH - thank you for your review, I'm so glad you like the story so far. I've always thought that there was a lack of Bilbo stories out there. Hobbits need love too!**

**Enjoy, and please review if you have any ideas you would like to see included in the story.**

* * *

Elizabeth and Bilbo ran and kept on running through the rolling country side until they saw the company of dwarves ahead of them, all riding ponies. Elizabeth stopped in her tracks suddenly, pulling her hand from Bilbo's and stood staring at him as he ran on ahead a few paces. 'Bilbo.' He skidded to a halt, turning to see that she had stopped a couple of feet behind him. 'Bilbo, are you sure you want to do this?' She asked. He looked back at her confused and out of breath, he jogged back over to her. 'You can always go back to Bag End.' Bilbo stopped in front of her looking down, he had noticed that she said _you_ and not _we_. Was that because of their conversation earlier?

'Positive.' He gave her a grin and a quick wink before grabbing her hand again and continued running through the trees and bushes towards the company. 'Wait!' He shouted, gaining the attention of some of the dwarves. 'Wait!' This time the whole group stopped and turned seeing the pair of them sprinting toward them, Bilbo waving the contract in the air. 'I - I've signed it!' Bilbo huffed, out of breath. The dwarves looked at one another before Balin reached forward to take the contract from Bilbo, reading over it carefully inspecting it with a set of pocket glasses.

'Well, everything appears to be in order.' He smiled down at Bilbo and Elizabeth. 'Welcome, Master Baggins, Lady Winters, to the company of Thorin Oakenshield.' The dwarves gave a happy cheer, where as Thorin did not look impressed.

'Get them some ponies.' He ordered.

'No. No, no, no - that, that won't be necessary.' Bilbo stuttered shaking his head as the dwarves brought forward a beautiful brown pony with a flowing mane.

'She's beautiful.' Elizabeth said smoothing the hairs on the pony's soft nose, looking around Elizabeth noticed that there was only one spare pony, the others were being used for transporting their equipment. 'Oh, is this the only pony spare?' She asked the nearest dwarve, which happened to be Dwalin.

'I appears so.' He told her, noticing the slight change in her posture as she shuffled awkwardly on the spot. 'If it would make you feel more comfortable, Lady Winters, you can ride with me.'

'Oh I was going to ask her!' Kili whined.

'You will do no such thing Laddie!' Dwalin hissed.

'And why not, Mister Dwalin?' Kili said with a cocked eyebrow.

'You know perfectly well why not!' Kili dropped his eyebrow making Elizabeth giggle at how comical he looked. Dwalin offered her his hand.

'Thank you Dwalin.' She took his hand and he gently pulled her to sit in front of him on the pony, his arms resting either side of her holding the reins.

'I sure that I can keep up on foot, I've been on a fair share of walking holidaahhs!' Bilbo was cut off as two dwarves, Fili and Kili had rode up along side him, and picked him up by the shoulders of his jacket lifting him onto the pony. Elizabeth couldn't help but to laugh at the terrified expression on his face as he was dropped down onto the pony's saddle. The group soon returned to making their way through the forest, laughing and joking, and talking about the quest.

'Dwalin, why didn't you want me to travel with Kili?' Elizabeth asked.

'Let's just say that the young master Kili is not as polite to the women as we older dwarves.'

'Oh.' Elizabeth gasped.

'I did not mean it that was milady, forgive me.' He apologized. 'He's perfectly a gentleman, but just has a funny way of showing it.' Elizabeth turned back around to see some of the dwarves were now holding brown pouches which by the sound of it were filled with coins.

'Come on Nori, pay up.' Oin said as Nori tossed his purse across to him, starting a chain reaction of purses being tossed from dwarve to dwarve.

'What's that about?' Elizabeth turned to asked Dwalin.

'The lads took a wager on whether or not you two would turn up. Most of them said neither of you would, or that you wouldn't, you know, being a lass and all.'

'Oh. And what did you say?' She asked just in time, before his arm shot out to catch his own purse of gold.

'Never doubted ye for a second lassie.' Dwalin said with a wink causing Elizabeth to laugh.

They continued to talk about life in Middle Earth and the quest, occasionally Elizabeth did keep looking behind her from time to time so see how Bilbo was holding up, the first couple of times he was riding by himself enjoying the scenery, however the next time she looked around, she found that he was already looking in her direction, in fact he was looking right at her; he was riding in between Kili and Fili, who both seemed to take pleasure in saying something inaudible to him that made him go very pink and he looked back to their surroundings. Elizabeth also looked back to the front, slightly embarrassed by what Fili and Kili could have possibly said. Dwalin noticed this too, and threw a very serious glare at the brothers as a warning, the pair looked away shamefully.

'No, wait, wait. Stop!' Bilbo suddenly exclaimed and the entire company grinded to a halt. 'We have to turn around.'

'What on earth is the matter?' Gandalf asked, who was now riding alongside Bilbo.

'I forgot my handkerchief.' Elizabeth had to quickly slap her hand over her mouth to stop herself from laughing, she turned to hide her face and saw Bofur laughing too as he ripped a strip of cloth from his clothing and tossed it over his shoulder to Bilbo.

'Here use this.' Bilbo caught it, and the look of disgust on his face as he stared at the dirty cloth made Elizabeth bite the back of her hand in an attempt to not laugh.

'Move on.' Thorin declared, and the company obeyed.

'You'll have to manage with out pocket handkerchiefs and a good many other things, Bilbo Baggins, before we reach our journey's end. You were born to the rolling hills and little rivers of the Shire, but home is now behind you; the world is ahead' Gandalf said as the company travelled through the beautiful woodlands of Middle Earth, across hills and plains.

**OoO**

It soon began to grow dark and it was decided that they were to set up camp the first chance they got. They found a large space near the edge of a cliff, and stopped there for the night. Bilbo watched as the company began to settle down for the night, Gloin, who was already asleep and snoring loudly had a swarm of tiny flying insects hovering above him, and each time he inhaled they were sucked into his mouth, expelling them as he exhaled. In fact, the majority of the dwarves were asleep, apart from Kili, Fili and Gandalf. Bilbo was finding it hard to fall sleep, he looked around seeing Elizabeth tending to the ponies, and so he carefully stepped over each sleeping dwarf and made his way over to her. He smiled to himself when he saw her secretly feed Myrtle a fresh apple.

'Hello girl.' She feed her the apple out of her hand. 'This is our little secret Myrtle; you mustn't tell any one.' She whispered. Bilbo joined her by the ponies, and was about to speak, when he was cut off by a terrible scream in the distance.

'What was that?' He spun round to where Fili and Kili were sitting.

'Orcs.' Kili said as another scream echoed around them.

'What are Orcs?' Elizabeth asked wondering over to sit with them by the fire.

'Throat cutters.' Fili told her. 'There will be dozens of them out there. The lowlands are crawling with them.'

'They strike in the wee small hours, when everyone's asleep. Quick and quiet, no screams. Just lots of blood.' Kili said causing Bilbo and Elizabeth to look away in fright. Fili and Kili turned to each other, smirking.

'You think that is funny?' Thorin snapped at the young princes. 'You think that a night raid by orcs is a joke?'

'We didn't mean anything by it Uncle.' Kili said, ashamed.

'No. You know nothing of the world.' Thorin spat, walking away from his nephews to the cliff edge over looking the valley below.

'What's wrong with Thorin?' Elizabeth asked.

'I wouldn't worry about him lassie, Thorin has more right than others to hate orcs.' Balin said. 'Long ago a dragon, Smaug, took the Lonely Mountain from the dwarves, and Thror, the king, Thorin's grandfather, tried to reclaim the ancient dwarf kingdom of Moria. Have you ever heard of Moria?' Balin asked and Elizabeth shook her head.

'Actually, I do remember my father telling me stories as a child, about a dwarven kingdom the was lost, along with all the gold and treasures that hid within.' Bilbo said.

'Aye lad, that would be Moria. Most of us here were in the army that the king led to the gates of Moria, but our enemy had gotten their first. Our army was plenty in numbers but there's were far greater than ours, and so Moria had been taken by legions of Orcs led by the most vile of their entire race. Azog, the defiler.'

'Azog? I think I've heard some one mention him before.' Elizabeth said.

'Azog is a giant Gundabad Orc, who had sworn for decades that he would wipe out the line of Durin, and so he began by beheading the king. Thrain, Thorin's father grieved so much it drove him mad. He went missing, taken prisoner or killed no one knew, and so we were leaderless with death and defeat closing in on us.' Balin took a second to pause, looking over to the cliff ledge where Thorin was standing, his back turned to them. 'And that's when I saw him, a young dwarf prince facing down the pale Orc, he had no armor and yet he stood alone against this terrible foe, wielding nothing but an oaken branch as his shield. Thorin soon injured Azog so gravelly that he had no choice but to retreat, Azog learned that day that the line of Durin could no be so easily broken.'

'What happened after the Orcs retreated? Did the dwarves regain Moria?' Elizabeth asked, amazed by the story.

'Our forces rallied and drew the orcs back long enough for us to destroy their remaining troops. But there would be no celebrating that night, for our dead was far beyond the count of grief, we few survived.' Balin gestured to the company, most of who were now awake and listening to the tale. 'And that's when I thought to myself, there's one I could follow.' He looked over to Thorin. 'There is one, I could call King.' Elizabeth turned to watch Thorin, who had now turned back to face the company.

'But the pale Orc? What happened to him?' Bilbo asked, settling down by the fire.

'That filth slunk back into the hole whence he came, he died of his wounds long ago.' Thorin growled before striding off.

Nothing more was said that night, nothing more was needed to be said.

**OoO**

We woke the next morning at the crack of dawn and were back on the road just under the hour. Elizabeth rode with Dwalin again, well she slept most of the journey only to wake finding that it was raining and her clothes were once again soaked through. Elizabeth looked around the company, until she finally spotted a rather cold and miserable looking Bilbo riding beside Gandalf.

'Can't you do anything about this downpour Mister Gandalf?' Dori shouted from the back of the herd.

'It is raining Dori, and it will continue to rain until it ceases.' Gandalf replied.

'A little bit of rain never hurt anyone.' Elizabeth smiled to Gandalf.

'If you wish to alter the weather, then perhaps you should seek another wizard.' Gandalf said.

'There are more wizards, other than you I mean?' Elizabeth asked, rather surprised.

'Of course my dear.' Gandalf said sweetly. 'The greatest of our kind is Saruman, the White. Then there are the two blue wizards, whose names I've quite forgotten.' He wondered to himself for a short moment. 'And last, but certainly not least, is Radagast, the Brown.'

'And is he another great wizard, or is he more...like you' Bilbo said, contemplating what he was about to say before he actually said it. Elizabeth hid a laugh into Dwalin's back as Gandalf turned looking slightly offended. _You cheeky little hobbit!_ Elizabeth laughed to herself, as Bilbo looked on innocently not fully comprehending how he has insulted the great wizard.

'On the contrary Master Baggins, I think that he is a great wizard...in his own way. Radagast is a gentle soul and much prefers the company of animals to others. He keeps a watchful eye about the nature of the vast forest lands of the East, and a good thing he does too, for evil always seeks entrance into this world.' Gandalf said looking ahead, and upon seeing Thorin signalling to an abandoned farmhouse the company follow their leader to the ruins.

'We will camp here for the night.' He declared jumping from his pony, giving the reins to Fili. 'You and Kili will look after the ponies, stay with them. Oin, Gloin, get a fire going.' Thorin circled the group, not in a commanding way but rather a protective way.

Gandalf on the other hand was also circling the group, but he was merely surveying the lands they rested on. 'A farmer and his family used to live here.' Nobody really listened to what the wizard was saying as they unpacked their bags and started preparation for supper. 'I think it would a wise choice to move on, if we leave now we could make it to the Hidden Valley before dawn.'

'I have told you many a times before, I will not go near that place.' Thorin marched over to Gandalf. 'I do not need, nor do I seek the Elves help.'

'We have a map that none of use can read, Lord Elrond could help us.' Gandalf told him.

'Help?' Thorin scoffed and turned his head slightly. 'When the dragon attacked Erebor, what help came from the elves that day? When the Orcs desecrated Moria and destroy our sacred halls, the Elves looked on and did nothing. So forgive me if I cannot trust the people who betrayed my father and my grand father.' He hissed.

'You are forgetting Thorin that you are neither of them, I did not give you this map and key for you to dwell on the past.'

'I did not know that they were yours to keep.' Thorin glared at Gandalf, who returned it before marching off back down the hill and in the direction which they came from, leaving the company and grumbling to himself.

'Is everything alright?' Bilbo asked as Gandalf stormed past where himself and Elizabeth were unloading their ponies. 'Gandalf, where are you going?' Elizabeth said nothing, clearly seeing that the wizard was not in the right state of mind to be pestered.

'To seek the company of someone who actually has some sense around here!'

'And who's that?'

'Myself Mister Baggins! I have had enough of insufferable dwarves for one day.' He snapped before turning the corner out of sight.

'Will he be coming back?' Elizabeth asked Balin, worried. Balin looked unsure whether to answer or not for the truth was he did not know.

**OoO**

Night had officially fallen by the time supper was ready, the company huddles around the boiling pot waiting for Bofur to serve up their portions. 'Her ya go lassie.' He smiled handing Elizabeth a bowl of steaming hot stew, she thought.

'Thank you Bofur, but what is this?' She asked sheepishly.

'To be truthfully honest, I don't quite know myself.'

'Gandalfs been gone a long time.' Came to voice of a rather worried looking Bilbo who was stepping from foot to foot wringing his hands against each other.

'I'm sure he's okay Bilbo, he just needed some space.' Elizabeth reassured him with a rub on the back.

'Of course he'll be okay, he's a wizard!' Bofur exclaimed. 'They do as they chose, very temperamental. Here, take this to the lads.' He dished up two bowls and handed them both to Bilbo, who seemed to be struggling to balance the hot bowls in his small hands. He headed off down the dark woodland path, before light footsteps behind him stopped him in his tracks, he knew that the footsteps were too light to be that of anything remotely threatening but with the dark sky and the cold breeze it did make him shiver slightly. He turned quickly, making sure not to spill any of the food, only to see Elizabeth standing behind him smiling him. 'I was coming down to see the ponies, and thought that I should give you a hand.' She said extending her hand to take one of the bowls from Bilbo's tight grasp.

'Oh. Thank you.' Bilbo said a little awkward. Why was he nervous around her, they were friends weren't they. Snapping out of it he handed her a bowl before turning back to the path. Elizabeth found that it was too dark to even see the path, and juggling a bowl of hot liquid did not make the matter any easier, she stumbled a few times, never spilling a drop, she even stumbled full force in to Bilbo, surprising neither of their food was spilled. 'Sorry Bilbo! I can't see where I'm going.' She apologized, only to squeak when she felt Bilbo lift her free arm up and loop it through his. Together, they guided each other, before seeing the clearing where Fili and Kili had lit a few torches, they were simply standing staring at the horses. Bilbo and Elizabeth un-linked arms and joined the two young dwarves to hand them their supper, when neither of them took it Elizabeth looked at them, seeing the stern and slightly confused looks on their faces.

'What's wrong?' She asked, trying to figure out what they were looking at in the dark.

'We're supposed to be looking after the ponies.' Kili said, his eyes never leaving the spot they were fixed on.

'Only we've encountered a uh, slight problem.' Fili actually looked at her, with a _I don't have a clue what happened_ look on his face.

'What's wrong, I don't see the problem.' Bilbo looked in to the darkness unable to spot what could possible wrong.

'You see, we had sixteen ponies.' Kili said.

'And now there's fourteen'


	5. Chapter Five - Trolls Part One

**I do not own the Hobbit or its characters or Lord Of The Rings.**

**A short chapter for you guys today, I'm sorry, but because of its Christmas I've actually had to go outside and venture out into the wild to be 'sociable'. So this was all I had time to write in between college assignments, work and family, but I wanted to get a chapter out for you guys because I love you all so much. If I don't publish again before Christmas and the New Year, have an amazing time. Oh my god - New Years Day. SHERLOCK!**

**Any way just some thanks and then on with the chapter. Sorry for the long note.**

**Thank you Sarah Jackson - The Other, blind-bandit95, God of cake, Klondike24680, YamamotoFan, B00GI3D, Kate Of The North, LifeisSupernatural500, Gonzonimbus, Avenger Since 2012, enchantixgoddess, samzombie, Curiouspolyglot and EMO-KID411 for following and favouriting!**

**Klondike24680 - Thank you for reviewing, I'm so glad you like it!**

**enchantixgoddess - Thank you for your lovely review, yes there should be so much more Bilbo/OC stories out there than there already are, because he is freaking adorable!**

**Enjoy and I'll see you in 2014!**

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How do you lose a pony - or two in this case. Kili and Elizabeth quickly scouted the pony pens for any sign of where they could have gone, while Fili and Bilbo looked on ahead for more signs of where they could have possibly gone. 'Daisy and Bungo are missing.' Kili declared when they returned to Fili and Bilbo. Oh dear, this was not good, not good at all.

'Shouldn't we tell Thorin?' A flustered Bilbo asked pointing to a large up rooted tree.

'No, no no. We don't want to worry him.' Fili said looking at the both Bilbo and Elizabeth. 'As our official burglars, we thought that maybe you two could take a look.'

Elizabeth looked from Fili to Bilbo unsure of what to do, he nodded and they walked up to the destroyed tree, observing it. 'Well I have no idea how this happened, but I'm guessing that whatever or _who_ever did this must have been big. Huge in face. And strong.' Elizabeth said crouching in front of the trees roots. 'The roots have been ripped straight out of the soil.'

'So whatever it was is big, and possibly quite dangerous?' Bilbo questioned.

'That's what I'm thinking.'

'Hey,' Fili cut in. 'Look, over there.' He crouched down next to Elizabeth, quickly followed by Kili and Bilbo, who was _still_ carrying the bowls of stew. 'There's a light.' He whispered, looking on through the dense trees. Sure enough, in the middle of the forest there was a fire blazing bright, although they couldn't see who occupied it, they were sure that there was someone there as they heard a quick out burst of deep harsh laughter coming from the fire's direction.

'What is it?' Bilbo asked, looking over the top of the tree.

'Trolls.' Kili growled before leaping over the tree trunk and charging further into the forest and closer to the fire, Fili was hot on his heels. Bilbo looked at Elizabeth neither of them knowing what to do.

'We should probably follow them.' She whispered, jumping over the tree herself and after the two young princes to their new hiding spot behind some trees. Bilbo however, went back for the bowls of food so he quickly had to dash behind a tree to avoid being seen by enormous troll smashed through the forest, squeezing two spooked ponies under his arms.

'He's got Myrtle and Minty!' He gasped. Elizabeth felt sorry for Bilbo, she knew how fond he had grown of Myrtle over the course of the journey. 'I think they're going to eat them. We have to do something.' At this, Fili and Kili's heads shot up to look at the hobbit.

'Yes. You should.' Kili volunteered, pushing Bilbo towards the fire. Despite protest from Bilbo and Elizabeth, he pressed on. 'Mountain trolls are slow and stupid, and you are so small. They'll never see you.'

'No, no, no...'

'You can't be serious, they'll crush him!' Elizabeth hissed, seeing the expression on Bilbo's face suddenly change at her comment, she spared him a quick apologetic glance.

'Don't worry love, it's perfectly safe, we'll be right behind him.' Kili said patting Bilbo's back.

'If you run into trouble, hoot twice like a barn owl, and once like a brown owl.' Fili told Bilbo pushing him even further into the forest.

Elizabeth shook her head in disbelief as Fili and Kili ran off in the other direction. She sighed and made her way over to Bilbo who was trying to memorize Fili's instruction but was unsurprisingly getting them mixed up. 'Hoot twice like a barn owl, twice like a brown,once like a brown? Are you sure this is a good idea?' He turned expecting to see Fili and Kili following him, but was surprised to see Elizabeth walking close behind him, and the young dwarves were no where to be seen. _Fantastic_ he thought.

'I am one hundred percent positive that this is a bad idea, but we need those ponies back.' She smiled and grabbed his hand before crouching down and slowly walked further in to the forest and ultimately closer to the fire and trolls. Elizabeth ignored the fact that her hand was tingling and her cheeks had slowly became washed with a slight pink hue. The closer they got to the fire, the more scared she became, but she wanted to be brave so she carried on until they came to the edge of the tree line and were one step away from walking straight into the camp site. There was three trolls altogether, the one that passed by them and two others, gathered around a cauldron hanging above the roaring fire. Elizabeth recognized the one who had carried the ponies, they were all dressed in nothing but a dirty loin cloth, one did have a vest on and another had a stained apron on, stained with what, Elizabeth did not want to know.

'Mutton yesterday, mutton today and blimey, if it don't look my mutton again tomorrow.' One complained as the one carrying the ponies set them down in a home made pen.

'Quit ye gripin! These is fresh nags!' He was obviously the leader of the little trio.

'Oh I don't like 'orses, not enough fat on em.'

'Well it's better than leathery old farmer, all skin and bone he was. I'm still picking bits of 'im out me teeth.'

Elizabeth and Bilbo were crawling on all fours through the thin shrubs leading to the trolls camp. Elizabeth had to stop herself from gagging a couple of times as one of the trolls violently sneezed into their boiling cauldron that was heating over the fire. He went to sneeze again, but the largest troll grabbed his nose and brutally shoved him back nearly causing him to fall back over his rock stool, which would have given him a clear line of sight to where Elizabeth and Bilbo were trying to keep the ponies calm as they attempted to untie the thick knotted ropes. When the troll sat back upright on his rock, he pulled a dirty rag from the back of his leather belt to blow his nose, at the same time he revealed a long curved blade also tucked into the back of the belt.

There was no other option, they had nothing to cut the rope with, she needed that knife. _I'm an idiot for doing this_ she thought to herself as she quietly crawled away from Bilbo and over to the troll, quickly ducking behind the rock he was sitting on. By now Bilbo had noticed her missing presence and was slowly pursuing her _What are you doing?!_ he mouthed when he saw what she was trying to do. Elizabeth ignored him and she came to a complete stop behind the troll, his belt just a little above her head, meaning she would have to stand up and risk being seen. Taking a deep breath she slowly rose to her feet, arms stretched upwards grasping for the blade, she was mere centimeters from it when the troll suddenly stood up, scratching his rear, causing Elizabeth to simultaneously gag and duck back down behind the rock, narrowly missing hitting her head of its jutting side.

Checking the coast was clear she glanced over to Bilbo who was still shaking his head and signalling for her to come away from there. The troll sat back down with a thud, standing again, Elizabeth stretched up on her tip toes to her full height, and reached for the knife again, she was so close to grabbing it only to be suddenly tackled to the side causing her to roll to the side almost out of cover. Flipping over onto her back Elizabeth looked over to where she was not seconds ago, only to find that there was no sign of Bilbo. It wasn't until one of the trolls exclaimed that she saw him.

'Blimey, look whats come out of me 'ooter! It's got arm an' legs an' everything!' He exclaimed, holding a snot covered Bilbo.

'What is it?'

'I don't know, but I don't like the way its wriggling around!' The one holding Bilbo exclaimed throwing him harshly to the ground. Elizabeth gave a sharp gasp, seeing Bilbo land hard on his stomach, she instantly threw her hand over her mouth hoping that the trio of trolls had not heard her but she was too late. Before she knew it, she was being scooped up and held in the air, upside down, Elizabeth was thankful that she had chosen against wearing her skirts she was not however thankful for the vice like grip around her waist that was slowly crushing her.

'Well, well, well would you look at what I found.' The troll snarled, leaning closer to sniff her. 'A girly.'

Elizabeth twisted her body from side to side hoping to at least loosen the grip on her, which had undoubtedly left marks on her pale skin, she looked around for signs of Bilbo, and saw that he had been cornered by the two other trolls. 'What are ya? An over sized squirrel?'

'I'm a burglar - hobbit!' Bilbo blurted out, hoping to have corrected himself before the troll twigged onto what he had said.

'A burglar-hobbit? Can we cook him?' One asked.

'We can try!' The two of them lunged for Bilbo, he quickly ducked through their legs only to be cornered again by one of them. Elizabeth grunted out of anger of not being able to move, the troll shook his hand once, jerking Elizabeth to the size causing her head to spin. 'Keep still or I might just skin you up now, and I'd hate to do that to such a pretty little thing.' He hissed stroking her face with his stumpy finger, without thinking Elizabeth snapped her head around and sunk her teeth into his finger making him recoil with a howl of pain. She had hoped that he would drop her so she could help Bilbo, but her actions only made him tighten his grip, she bit her tongue to hold back a scream. 'Hurry up and grab 'im!' He shouted to his comrades.

'They wouldn't make more than a mouthful put together, well not once they're skinned and boned!'

'Grab 'im!'

'He's too quick!' Bilbo was running in circles

'Drop them!' Elizabeth turned to see Kili standing on the out skirts of the forest brandishing his sword.

'You what?' Elizabeth's capture said.

'I said drop them.' Repeated Kili twirling his blade around, trying to look threatening. The smaller troll looked at Bilbo, then he threw Bilbo across the fire towards Kili who caught him with ease the pair of them crashed into the ground just as the remainder of the company charged through the trees and shrubs weapons raised. The next thing she knew, Elizabeth was flying through the air towards the gathering of dwarves, a scream erupted from her throat at the sudden change from being upside down for longer than necessary. She prepared her self, tensed her body into a ball ready for the pain of slamming into the ground, but something broke her fall, or rather someone. She opened her eyes and looked up and saw that she was sprawled out on Dwalin's chest, he had barely managed to catch her before they tumbled to the hard ground. Before she had a chance to pick herself up and apologize he had already picked her up by the waist and set her on her feet, Elizabeth took note of his protective hold on her as they stood up to charge with the rest of the company.

Elizabeth grabbed a sword that was lying on the ground and ran into the fight, fires blazing, she didn't know the first thing about handling a sword so running and swinging seemed to be her best tactic. It seemed to work, the other dwarves were managing perfectly fine around her but then again they were all natural born fighters they had been trained, she had just picked up a sword and charged in with out a clue. Elizabeth swung her sword around her head as she approached one of the trolls - Bert she believed, striking him in the knee causing him to lash out and kick his leg in pain. However as he did this, his foot connected full force with Elizabeth and lifted her in to the air, before sending her sailing over the campfire and back onto the hard ground. She grunted at the force of the connection of her back hitting the ground, instantly knocking the wind of out her, not wanting to be at a disadvantage she began to pick herself up but was thankfully pulled up by Kili and he ran past her. Elizabeth nodded her thanks and spun round, ready to face the troll again, only finding to her absolute horror that the three trolls are staring down at them, two of them holding a quivering Bilbo with an arm and a leg in each hand. They had him held in the air, ready to rip him apart at any moment.

'Bilbo!' Kili exclaimed as he went to dart forward to save the hobbit, Elizabeth attempted to do the same, but they were both stopped by Thorin slamming his arm across his nephew's chest, and Fili grasped Elizabeth's shoulder tightly holding the small woman back. She struggle against him for a couple of seconds before settling down, realizing that there was absolutely nothing they could do at this point.

'Lay down your arms!' The leader spat. 'Or we'll rip his off!' At this Elizabeth automatically threw her sword on the floor, but no one else did. She looked around to Thorin, and was disgusted by the fact that he was debating whether or not to do what they say. She couldn't blame everyone else though, they were all waiting for Thorin to make his judgement before making a move himself. Soon enough, Thorin reluctantly threw his sword on to floor, all the time he was glaring at Bilbo, as if it was somehow his fault. One by one the rest of the company followed his lead, Dwalin dropped his hammer, Kili threw his sword and last but not least Ori dramatically slammed his sling shot on to ground.

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**Just thought I should also clarify Bilbo and Elizabeth's ages as someone asked me how it would work**

**Elizabeth is 27 in human years, that would make her around 41 in hobbit years.**

**Bilbo (I've made him slightly younger) is 49 in hobbit years, making him around 32 in human years.**


	6. Chapter Six - Trolls Part Two: Parasites

**I do not own The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings or anything relatable. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I introduce.**

**Thanks to Wild Mustang of Freedom, Cmusiclover92, waterpixie131, Satine Gold, Chloe5281, BeccaBoo2010, treavellergir, llama-hunter-on-fire, Storyime-Nightwish, Elena Gilbert 14, NobleSilverShadow, Julia the ladybug, CordeliaWho and Spirit Soldier for following and favouriting.**

**Sorry it's been a few weeks, I got a new laptop for Christmas so I've been busy copying all my files over, and there was a lot. Also college started again, and the year began with a 5000 word essay on a Film of our choice. Any bets as to what film I did?**

**Also for those who do not follow either of my Sherlock stories, I recently updated saying that I would be discontinuing those, however I will continue them in a series of one shots or small stories.**

**I'm starting to try and keep the chapters shorter and more to the point, but still trying to keep them interesting or at least 'good'**

**Anyway thanks for your patience. On with the story!**  
**Enjoy.**

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_Well this is just fantastic, absolutely bloody fantastic!_ Elizabeth thought to herself as the trolls finished tying poor Ori to the rotating spit the had positioned above their roaring fire. Ori had been tied, rather tightly, to the spit along with his brothers Nori and Dori, Bofur and a extremely angry Dwalin who with every rotate seemed to mutter something even more offensive. Much like the rest of them, they had been stripped of their armour and weapons, leaving them in nothing but their underclothes, which for Elizabeth, much to her disapproval, meant the bodice she had borrowed from Bilbo and a pair of thin linen pants. Elizabeth tried not to think about the fact that she saw literally half-naked and lying in a huddle, pressed up against six dwarves and a hobbit. Thorin and Bilbo were sitting upright against a large boulder with Elizabeth more or less lying across them, Kili, Gloin, Oin, Bombur, Balin and Fili had been thrown onto the pile all landing on their backs, except for Fili who had the disadvantage of landing on his stomach, face down in the dirt.

'Don't bother cooking them. Let's just sit on them and squash them into Jelly!' One of the trolls said, rotating the spit at a slightly faster pace, causing the dwarves on it to give a sickly groan.

'No, no, no. They should be grilled with a small sprinkling of sage.' The other one rotating replied.

'Is this really necessary?' Dori exclaimed, having gone a funny pale colour.

'Never mind the seasoning you fools; we ain't got all night! Dawn ain't that far away, so unless you fancy being turned into stone, get a move on!' The leader shouted as he threw more wood onto the fire.

_Turned to stone?_ Elizabeth glanced behind her quickly to see that the sun was threatening to break over the tops of the boulders behind them. She had an idea, quickly giving Bilbo a kick she motioned with her head over to where the trolls were preparing to cook their friends. 'Are you serious? I'm not going over there!' he hissed.

'Just do it!' Elizabeth hissed back through gritted teeth.

'Why?'

'I think I have an idea.' She looked back to the boulders hoping her plan would work.

'What am I supposed to do?'

'Stall them, long enough for the sun to reach.' She whispered giving Bilbo another kick so he was already on his feet. Although he was still in his sack that ties at the neck, he stumbled around a bit before finding his footing and clumsily hopped over to the trolls.

'W-wa-wait!' He shouted, gaining everyone's attention, looking back at Elizabeth with a silent look that screamed Now what? She gave him a nod and a smile to reassure him, Bilbo quickly spun back to the trolls putting on a brave face. 'You are making a terrible mistake.'

'Laddie it's no use, you can't reason with them!' Dori said 'They're half-wits!'

'Half-wits? What does that make us?' Bofur exclaimed, Elizabeth had to hold back a giggle, she had to admit although the circumstances were in no way funny, she had to hand it to Bofur that he certainly had comical timing.

'Uh, I meant with the, uh, with, uh, with the seasoning.' Bilbo stammered

'What about the seasoning?' The troll stirring the boiling water asked, suddenly taking interest.

'Well have you smelt them? I would suggest using something a lot stronger than sage before you plate this lot up.'

'Hey!' Elizabeth exclaimed as several of the dwarves yelled at Bilbo, some calling him a traitor, Fili, still face down in the dirt tried rather pathetically to kick him.

'What do you know about cooking dwarf?'

'Shut up, and let the, uh, flurgaburburrahobbit talk.'

'Uh, th-the secret to cooking dwarf is, um-' He spun round on the spot, his eyes finding Elizabeth's and he silently pleaded her to help him out, hoping that she had something he could use, but she shook her head. _Oh god, what have I gotten him into?_ She thought as Bilbo faced the trolls again.

'Yes? Come on. Tell us the secret.'

'Yes, I'm telling you, the secret is…to skin them first!' He declared, pleased with his quick thinking, the others on the other hand didn't agree so much.

'Tom, get me the filleting knife.' The clamour of the dwarves angered and out raged

'I'll get you, you little-' Gloin was interrupted as Dwalin, who had obviously been pushed just that little bit too far, boomed across the campsite 'I won't forget that!' Elizabeth knew that the company would have had no idea what she and Bilbo were doing, even so she could not help but hold back her giggles at the dim witted dwarves.

'What a load of rubbish! I've eaten plenty with their skins on. Scuff them, I say, boots and all.' Elizabeth whipped her head around upon hearing a quiet but audible rustle from behind the campsite, she turned just in time to see a quick blur or grey slip between some trees nearby, she turned back to Bilbo hoping he had seen it too.

'He's right! Nothing wrong with a bit of raw dwarf! Nice and crunchy.' Suddenly the troll reached down and grabbed Bombur, and dangled him upside down over his mouth, about to eat him.

'Not-not that one, he-he's infected!' Bilbo blurted out.

'You what?'

_What are you up to Bilbo?_ 'Yeah, He's got worms in his…tubes.' Elizabeth groaned, rolling her eyes at the fact that the trolls were stupid enough to believe this. She gasped as the troll which was holding Bombur threw Bombur back into the pile of dwarves in disgust. 'In-in fact they all have, they're infested with parasites. It's a terrible business.' He looked back at the dwarves and Elizabeth 'I wouldn't risk it, I really wouldn't.'

'Parasites, did he say parasites?' Oin asked not fully hearing what had been said.

'We don't have parasites! You have parasites!' Kili argued in a childish manner.

'What are you talking about, laddie?' Gloin asked and the rest of the dwarves began to chime in about how they didn't have parasites and how Bilbo is a fool. Elizabeth rolled her eyes at them, and she saw Bilbo had too, he was clearly exaushted with them messing up the plan. Elizabeth looked to Thorin as he was the only one not shouting his innocence, she met his and and he seemed to understand that she was practically screaming to him that it was a plan. He nodded once and gave both Oin and his dark haired nephew a hefty kick in the back. They then understood and went along with it, and all the dwarves began to proclaim how they were in fact "riddled" with parasites.

'I've got parasites as big as my arm.' Oin said first, to get the ball rolling.

'Mine are the biggest parasites, I've got huge parasites!' Kili yelled causing Elizabeth laugh at the almost child like

'We're riddled.' Nori exclaimed

'Yes, I'm riddled.' Ori followed his older brother's lead and joined in.

'Yes we are. Badly!' Dori shouted.

'What would you have us do, then, let 'em all go?' The troll asked.

'Well...'

'You think I don't know what you're up to? This little ferret is taking us for fools!' He inquired

'Ferret?' Bilbo exclaimed offended.

'Fools?'

Suddenly a shadow appeared over the clearing and Elizabeth turned to see Gandalf standing atop of a large rock over looking the campsite. 'The dawn will take you all!'

'Who's that?' The trolls exchanged confused glances between one another 'No idea.'

'Can we eat `im too?' One asked and suddenly Gandalf brought his staff down to strike the rock hard enough to split it inhalf, allowing the newly breaking first light of dawn to explode throughout the clearing.

When the sunlight touches the trolls' skin, they tried to shield them selves, turning away from the bright rays of light, but soon enough one by one they began to turning into stone letting out loud screams and howls of pain. Within seconds, there are three stone statues of trolls in the clearing.

'Oh, get your foot out of my back!' Dwalin shouted interrupting the celebrations

'Someone get Dwalin down before he kills someone!'

Soon enough the whole company was up and on their feet and starting to untangle themselves from their smelly sacks. Elizabeth was struggled to get the rope of her sack untied and was hopelessly trying to bite at it. She jumped slightly as a pair of hands came from no where. 'Need some help?' A familiar voice asked, Elizabeth looked up to see a now free and fully dressed Bilbo trying his hardest to hold back a laugh as he watched her. He quickly un laced the rope and Elizabeth let the sack fall to the ground, forgetting about her lack of clothing. She blushed as she quickly knelt down and brought the sack back up and tucked it under her arms, she looked bashfully at Bilbo, who seemed equally as embarrassed but also extremely entertained by this and was sniggering under his breath.

'It's not funny!' She laughed, playfully hitting his arm. 'But, thanks.' She said, half embarrassed an half relieved that it was only Bilbo who had seen, well almost, saw her breasts. She laughed and reached over to pull Bilbo in for a hug, taking the halfling by surprise, but soon enough he returned her gesture by wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace the pair of them laughing about how they could not

believe the plan had worked.  
More than enough time had passed before the embrace went from friendly to a little awkward, so they quickly brought their arms to their sides again. 'Well I should probably, uh, go and, uh...' For some reason Elizabeth was too embarrassed to put the full sentence together.

'What, oh yeah, you should...' Bilbo stammered to holding a hand to the back of his neck and ruffling his hair.

'Okay.' Elizabeth whispered and turned and walked away. Seriously Elizabeth? One hug and you've turned into a giggling school girl! Elizabeth scolded herself, she hated herself for how she acted when around Bilbo, always blushing and feeling happy. _He is your friend, okay? You can not have feelings for him, you don't have feelings for him!_ She halted, stopping in her tracks in the middle of the clearing, a funny light sensation was emitting from her stomach, something she had never experienced before in her life. _Do I have feelings for Bilbo?_

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**I know the ending kind of sucks, but I find it kind of cute!**

**-Watson'sGirl-**


	7. Chapter Seven: Troll Caves & Old Friends

**I do not own The Hobbit, Lord Of The Rings or anything relatable. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I introduce.**

**Thanks to CatalinaVonFeuer, desirefreak horsegirl177, PaolaRavenclaw and jesshobbit for following and favouriting.**

**PaolaRavenclaw - Firstly, oh my gosh, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a lovely review, I'm really glad you're enjoying my story. Secondly, you are totally right, Tolkien's stories are very much male centered with very few, if any, female characters. I've read so many Thorin/OC and Kili/OC stories so I thought it was about time Bilbo got some love too. Again thanks for reading and reviewing, and don't forget if you have any ideas you would like to see added into the story line, feel free to let me know :D**

**Have some fluff! I love writing fluff so much, you know it's good fluff when it's close to becoming cringe worthy.**

**Just because I'm feeling in a good mood after watching the series three finale of Sherlock (oh my god, does my brain and my heart hurt.) I have chapter eight ready to go, so in about fifteen minutes I will post that too. Just for you guys.**

**Enjoy :D**

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Dawn had now fully broken and the company were all free and busing themselves with quickly trying to redress themselves so they could continue their journey on wards. Upon retrieving her clothes and weapons, Elizabeth swiftly darted behind a large boulder concealing her half-naked body as she scrambled back into her comfortable attire. After dressing, she poked her head out from behind, cautiously, making sure that all the dwarves were presentable enough for her to come out again. Spotting Gandalf walking to one of the troll statues and thumping it with his staff, a pleased smile on his face, Elizabeth made her way over to him.

'Ah Miss Elizabeth, I must say that I am rather relieved that yo are un hurt.' Gandalf smiled at her as she approached.

'Thank you Gandalf, but how did you know we were in trouble?'

'Oh I have my ways.' Elizabeth laughed at the old wizard's friendly humour. 'And I seems that you do too, Miss Winters.' He said looking at the sword she held by her side. 'A weapon of such size and power is not normal wielded by someone of you stature and training inexperience.'

'Oh it's not mine. I just grabbed it and ran when we were forced to fight the trolls. I don't know who it belongs to.' She too looked down at the broken sword in her hands, remembering what it felt like to have such strong weapon in her possession.

'I see you found my sword.' Elizabeth heard the deep rough voice behind her and turned to see Thorin bounding towards them, still pulling on his large fur coat. 'And here I thought all was lost.' Elizabeth handed him the sword, giving him an apologetic look.

'I'm afraid its broken.' She watched as he stared down at his once trusty sword, that now lay in three pieces in his hands. Saying nothing he nodded a grateful thanks and turned to Gandalf.

'Where did you go to, if I may ask?'

'To look ahead.'

'What brought you back?'

'Looking behind. Nasty business. Still, at least every one is still in one piece.'

'No thanks to your burglars here.' Thorin hissed.

'From what I have been told, its seems that Lady Winter had the brains, and Master Baggins had the courage to play for time. None of the rest of you thought of that.' Thorin threw a repentant look at the wizard as he went back to examine the statues. 'They must have come down from the Ettenmoors.'

'The Ettenmoors?' Elizabeth asked, cautiously approaching the king.

'A mountain range far off from here, at least three days travel.' He glanced back at the statues of the troll trio. 'Since when do mountain trolls venture this far south?'

'They have had neither the need nor the ability to do so, not for an age, not since a darker power ruled these lands.' Gandalf told him.

'And they could not have moved in daylight.' Elizabeth said.

'So, there must be a cave nearby.' Thorin turned back to his now fully clothed and armed company. 'Move on, let's go!'

The company continued on, mainly in silence, until they stumbled across a large cave not too far from the clearing where they finds a large cave nearby. As they entered the cave Elizabeth saw that it was full of piles of treasure placed randomly around the open space. Soon enough the majority of the company were coughing and holding their mouths and noses, Elizabeth didn't understand why they were doing that until she gagged as she was hit by a wall of vile stench.

'Oh my god, what's that disgusting stench?!' She cried.

'It's a troll hoard. Be careful what you touch.' As they wandered around the cave, many of the dwarves cough and retch at the smell. While exploring the cave Elizabeth marveled at the piles of golden coins, jewels and trinkets wondering where they all came from and why trolls could possibly need sure rarities. Something gleaming caught her eye and she carefully knelt and examined the pile of treasures. In the middle of one pile she picked out a gorgeous ring, made completely out of gold and emeralds; she was too busy admiring the object to notice that half the company were leaving.

'Elizabeth?' She jumped slightly at Bilbo's voice next to her, he hadn't seen him approach. 'What have you got there?'

'Oh nothing, I was just admiring this.' She held the ring out to him, twirling it in her fingers.

'Do you like it?' He said, gazing at the ring.

'It's beautiful, certainly a rarity.' Elizabeth smiled still admiring the small ring.

'Yes, undoubtedly a rarity.' She heard Bilbo sigh, she blushed when she saw he wasn't looking at the ring, but rather at her.

_Oh my._ The butterflies were doing back flips in her stomach now.

'Let's get out of this foul place.' Thorin declared suddenly, drawing Bilbo and Elizabeth from their own world, as she place the ring back in its rightful place they both turned to leave but were stopped by Gandalf who was approaching them carrying two covered swords.

'Bilbo, Elizabeth, here. These should be about your size.' He handed Bilbo an incredibly beautifully crafted blade with a gleaming silver handle. He then handed Elizabeth a blade of similar appearances yet her was a much thinner blade than Bilbo's.

'I can't take this.' Bilbo declined

'The blade is of Elvish make which means it will glow blue when orcs or goblins are nearby.' Gandalf told him, Elizabeth had to admit, going by what Fili and Kili have told her of orcs, she didn't fancy coming face to face with one soon, but having this sword would be useful.

'I have never used a sword in my life.'

'And I hope you never have to. But if you do, remember this: true courage is about knowing not when to take a life, but when to spare one.' Gandalf said sharing a look between the two of us.

'Don't worry, I'll teach you.' Elizabeth reassured Bilbo, giving him a quick wink.

They were soon brought to attention by Thorin's bellowing voice from far outside the cave. 'Something's coming!'

Not wasting a second, Gandalf took off with Bilbo and Elizabeth hot on his heels, Elizabeth already had her sword unsheathed and ready. They ran until they found the company gathered around each other in a small huddle, poised with their weapons ready and aimed at a rather strange looking man wearing a large brown coat and a matching hat. Elizabeth grimaced when she saw the stale bird excrement plastered to the side of his face.

'Radagast?' Gandalf asked, peering at the man. 'Radagast the Brown! What on earth are you doing here?' _Oh so this is the brown wizard._

'I was looking for you, Gandalf. Something's wrong. Something's terribly wrong.' Radagast panted, he must have run, but judging by the sledge and rabbits behind him it was clear he had travelled at great speeds. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it almost immediately. He did this another two times, before giving Gandalf a rather confused look. 'Oh, just give me a minute. Um, oh, I had a thought, and now I've lost it. It was, it was right there, on the tip of my tongue.'

Elizabeth had the suppress a small giggle as he stuck his tongue out, curling it and looked down at it surprised. 'Oh, it's not a thought at all; it's a silly old...' Gandalf casually reached up a pulled a stick insect out of Radagast's mouth. '-stick insect!'

'Oh that's just nasty.' Elizabeth gagged a little, earning a comical look from Bilbo and Fili as they too tried to suppress their laughter. Gandalf gave them a stern look before quickly ushering Radagast ahead a few paces to speak privately. Elizabeth was trying to listening in on their conversation - even though she considered it rude, but Radagast did say that there was something wrong, and she wanted to know what.

Suddenly, a piercing howl ripped through the air, Elizabeth spun round to face the company, all looking as equally petrified as each other. 'What the hell was that?!'

'Was that a wolf? Are there-are there wolves out there?' Bilbo said rather flustered.

'Wolves? No, that is not a wolf.' Bofur said, when from behind him, Elizabeth saw a sudden shift in movement, she saw it too late and before she knew it and huge creature, much like an over sized dog had pounced into the midst of the Company, knocking Elizabeth down in the process. She landed hard on her back, but was quickly pulled to her feet and brushed down by Fili and Bifur. Thorin had already struck and killed the beast with his new blade, a fine blade if that. Another one of the same creatures suddenly came at them from the other side and Kili was quick to react, shooting it with an arrow and bringing it down before it had a chance to pounce on them. Kili's arrow only seemed to startle the beast as it soon got back up, ready to attack, but was soon killed with a strong bow to the head by Dwalin.

'Warg-Scouts!' Thorin spat. Elizabeth remembered how much he despised Orcs 'Which means an Orc pack is not far behind.' _Orc pack. Pack implies more than one, like twenty or thirty. Oh no._

'Who did you tell about your quest, beyond your kin?' Gandalf shouted, pushing through the dwarves until he was looking down to Thorin.

'No one.'

'Who did you tell?'

'No one, I swear.' Thorin persevered. 'What in Durin's name is going on?'

'You are being hunted.' Gandalf stated bluntly.

'We have to get out of here.' Elizabeth gasped, still in shock of behind knocked down by the huge Warg. Ori came rushing over the mounds of dirt and grass in a blind panic. 'We can't! We have no ponies; they bolted.'

'I'll draw them off.' Radagast declared, hopping onto his rabbit drawn sledge.

'These are Gundabad Wargs; they will outrun you.' Gandalf expressed concern for his dear friend.

'These are Rhosgobel Rabbits; I'd like to see them try.'


	8. Chapter Eight - Warg Scouts

**I do not own The Hobbit or Lord Of The Rings in any way. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I introduce in the future.**

**Another update so soon? This has to chapter I was most excited to write so far, its so action pack and one of my favourite scenes of the movie.**

**Enjoy :D**

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Soon after leaving Radagast they came to the very edge of the forests, in the distance Elizabeth saw Radagast on his sleigh being chased by an alarming group of wargs, each with Orcs riders wielding weapon.  
'Come now, this way' Gandalf ordered, running for cover behind a large rock. Gathered there, they all made a risky run to the next rock, hoping that the coast was clear. Elizabeth was struggling to keep up, she was fighting for her breath and her feet felt like they were on fire, she had never been a strong runner. Dwalin and Bofur seemed to notice this and held back to stay close to her and the others who were falling behind.

'Ori, no!' She heard Thorin cry out as he grabbed the young dwarf and pulled him back from running straight into the path of the pack. 'Where are you leading us?' He hissed to Gandalf in frustration. The wizard paid him no notice, instead he ran across the plain to the next rock and signalled for everyone to follow his lead. She began to panic as she could not see Bilbo anywhere, she thought they had lost him until she saw a familiar mess of sandy curls running next to Fili.

'What now?' Elizabeth whispered through dragged breaths, Dwalin shushed her and everyone looked at one another in fear as they heard the sound of claws scrapping across the rocks above them. She was now standing in between Dwalin and Thorin, carefully turning, Elizabeth looked up and saw a warg the size of a horse standing directly above them, it's rider was scanning the valley for any signs of life. She gasped, and was pulled back by a hand on her mouth, she gasped louder thinking that it was an orc, but relaxed once seeing that it was Thorin.

He slowly lowered his hand from her mouth and rose his finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. He then moved his head and motioned to Kili, looking at his bow, silently he obeyed and drew an arrow in his bow, he then stepped out and took a wild shot at the orc, managing to hit it, not quite killing it however. The warg and orc squealed and fell down in front of them, the orc was soon on his feet and charging towards the group, specifically Dwalin, Elizabeth and Thorin. Dwalin was the first to react, he swung his axe with such strength that the orc was killed in one blow as some of the others took to beating the warg.

'Quick!' Called Gandalf, looking over the rock. They were all running now, the fire in Elizabeth's feet had intensified to the point where she was sure that her feet were swollen, the only thing that made her press on and speed up was the sound of wargs howls behind them showing that their cover had been blown. Dwalin stayed with her in case she needed help, as they ran to a small rise in the ground, although her lungs and feet were burning Elizabeth knew that if the did not find some cover soon then they would be slaughtered for sure.

'Where's Gandalf?' Oin growled as the company gathered in the middle of the passing, looking around Elizabeth could see that the wizard was nowhere to be seen. She did however see Bilbo, doubled over catching his breath, she quickly ran over to him and hugged him relieved that he was okay.

'He's abandoned us!' Dwalin yelled as he swung an axe to scare off an approaching warg, Kili had already darted past them and had begun firing arrows, even Ori was fighting using his slingshot to no avail. The orcs were rapidly closing in on them, they huddled closer still looking around for Gandalf who was nowhere to be seen. The wargs were getting closer and closer, Elizabeth began to shake in fear of what was to come.

'Over here you fools!' Elizabeth turned to see Gandalf standing above a collection of rocks that looked like they led down into the ground, the company listened to Gandalf and made for the rocks. Upon reaching them, Elizabeth turned to see if everyone was safe and present. That's when she saw Kili.

Elizabeth saw that Kili was hugely outnumbered as he fended of each warg with his bow and arrows, ignoring the shouts of the dwarves and Bilbo she ran across the plain and stood with her back to Kili's, sword brandished, as they circled round watching the enemy. Kili looked round to see Elizabeth and gave her a cheeky wink before pulling another arrow to his bow. Before he had a chance to release it, they both turned hearing Thorin shouting at them and signalling for them to run to the rocks. Not wasting a second they bolted backwards towards the rocks, but Kili was much faster then she was and was soon ahead of her. She kept on running, pounding her feet into the ground as hard and as fast as she could, she could hear the pack of wargs advancing on her and within seconds a snarl is heard behind her as a warg pouncing at her.

Elizabeth managed to duck at the last second, but stumbled on her feet and tumbled to the ground, skidding across the rocky terrain. She flipped her self over onto her back quick enough the see the warg pouncing in her again, just in time she rolled out of the way of the wargs snarling mouth. As soon as she moved, the Orc riding on the warg swooped down and picked her up with a vice like grip on her throat, he lifted her completely up from the ground and dangled her in front of him, his grip tightened ever so slowly cutting off her air supply, she could feel the air rush to her lungs, thumping around in her chest looking for an escape. Black spots began to appear in her vision, when suddenly the Orcs grasp disappeared and she landed on the ground with a low thud. Kili, who had shot the Orc with an arrow, was quick to run to her aid picking her up he practically dragged her through the long grass to the hidden entrance where Thorin was anxiously waiting for them, the three of them slid down the rocks, Kili held Elizabeth close to his chest as she choked for her breath back.

Once in the cave the company split in to two groups, one scouted the caves for any enemies and the other held back and regained their strength. While Dwalin, Thorin, Nori, Gloin, Bilbo, Bifur, Kili, Fili and Bombur went ahead, Elizabeth stayed back with Balin, Oin, Dori, Ori and Bofur as they caught their breaths. Elizabeth tried to stand, but grimaced when a burning sensation travelled through both of her feet and ankles, she knew that he hadn't sprained them when she fell so she sat down again and pulled her boots off. She struggled at first, something seemed to be stopping them from coming off, suddenly with a strong tug the boot pulled off and Elizabeth looked down at her foot in horror. Not believing her eyes, she quickly removed the other boot too and set her feet side by side examining them. 'What on earth...'

Staring down at her feet, they were now much bigger than before, they were at least three times bigger than an hour ago, however they were not swollen or inflamed, they were perfectly formed but were just wider and longer; Elizabeth knew that she would not be able to put to boots back on without hurting herself so decided to take the only option of walking barefoot. She silently stood and made her way to join the other group, luckily the bottom of her trousers just covered her feet up to the toes, concealing them enough so that they still allowed her to walk. Her larger feet made her slightly off balance and she would have tripped and fell if Bilbo hadn't of caught her, she smiled at him before everyone followed Dwalin through a thin passage way in between the rocks.

Every now and again, Elizabeth would steal a quick glance at her feet, still not fully understanding what was going on. _What is happening to me?_


	9. Chapter Nine - Rivendell & Explanations

**I do not own The Hobbit or Lord Of The Rings in any way. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I chose to introduce in the future.**

**What is this? Another update so soon after the last two? Well I'm in such a good mood and I already had this chapter typed up and ready to go. And I thought you lot deserved a treat for being such amazing readers, for sticking with me through the story. And also because over the next week, I will be busy with my college, performing in our annual showcase, we're doing Henry V, (I'm Henry, even though I'm a girl, it's a little weird but I get a sword and amour so it's all good.) I'm super excited. So it may be at the end of next week, the beginning of next week before there is another update.**

**I'm going on a bit of an updating spree as updates may be a bit slow over the next week or two, so watch out, you may get another one either tonight or tomorrow morning.**

**Thanks to Evil E. Evil and EllieMarieG for following and favouriting.**

**ro781727 - thanks for reviewing, your ideas are really interesting and would be great to put in. I do already have the Gollum/Goblin town scene worked out, but I will definitely use your idea for the elves of Mirkwood. Thanks for the ideas :D!**

**Enjoy!**

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The Company were following Thorin and Dwalin, through the tight narrow tunnels, Elizabeth was at the very back, behind Bofur. Reflection on recent events, Elizabeth came to the conclusion that if she was to survive this quest, she would need to be more careful and get some proper training before hand. But that wasn't the biggest problem on her mind right now, she was more concerned about her feet. Why were they like that, she knew that thy were not just swollen or inflamed because they didn't hurt too much. _Perhaps I should ask Oin to take a look._ She thought to herself. _Or Gandalf. Yes, Gandalf is the better option. _She was too busy watching her feet, that she hadn't realized that the company had stopped just outside of the tunnels on an open ledge, below them in a valley, lay a beautiful city made entirely out of white stone and marble. It was unlike any thing Elizabeth had ever seen before.

'The Valley of Imraldis. In the Common Tongue, it's known by a another name.' Gandalf said walking forward to the edge of the ledge.

'Rivendell.' Bilbo said, amazed. _Rivendell?_ Elizabeth remembered Bilbo had told her of Rivendell before, a vast city belonging to the Elves.

'This was your plan all along wasn't it?' Thorin turned to Gandalf. 'To seek refuge with our enemy.'

'You do not have any enemies here, Thorin Oakenshield. The only ill-will to be found in this valley is that which you bring yourself.'

'You think the Elves will give our quest their blessing? They will try to stop us.' Thorin said very matter-of-factually.

'Of course they will.' He didn't sound all too sure. 'But remember we have questions that need to be answered. And if we are to be successful, this will need to be handled with tact and respect and no small degree of charm. Which is why you will leave the talking to me.' Gandalf warned the company, as if he was instructing children to behave.

They walked across a wide bridge, led by Gandalf, and into Rivendell. A few, what must have been, elves were casually strolling through the city, chatting quietly. Elizabeth gazed in awe at the beauty of the place, whereas the dwarves looked uneasy and agitated.

'Mithrandir.' A tall dark-haired elf greeted them, open armed, walking down a flight of stairs.

'Ah, Lindir!' Gandalf replied embracing the young elf, the dwarves muttered among themselves in disgust.

'Stay sharp.' Thorin whispered to his company as he eyed up the elf suspiciously.

'_Lastannem i athrannedh I Vruinen_.' Lindir said in a foreign tongue, _must be Elvish._

'I must speak with Lord Elrond.'

'I am afraid that my lord Elrond is not here.' Lindir told him

'Not here?' Gandalf was surprised. 'Where is he?' Suddenly, Booming horns could be heard in the distance, except they were getting closer and the company turned around to see a large group of armed horsemen approaching them along the bridge at a rapid rate.

'Ifridî bekâr!' Thorin bellowed. 'Hold ranks!' The dwarves quickly bunched up together into a tight circle with their weapons pointed out, Elizabeth was caught up in the rush of it all and soon found herself pushed up against Bilbo and Ori. The mounted Elvish horsemen rode in circles around them, eventually coming to a stop in front of them. One of the horsemen, separated himself from, separates himself from the others.

'Gandalf.' He said as he approached, Gandalf bowed gracefully with respect.

'Lord Elrond._ Mellonnen! Mo evínedh?_'

'_Farannem 'lamhoth i udul o charad. Dagannem rim na Iant Vedui_.' Lord Elrond said as he dismounted from his horse, before greeting Gandalf with a friendly embrace.

'Strange for Orcs to come so close to our borders. Something, or someone, has drawn them near." Elrond said holding up an Orc sword showing it to everyone before handing it to Lindir.

'Ah, that may have been us.' Gandalf said as Thorin stepped forward, Lord Elrond looked upon him with recognition.

'Welcome Thorin, son of Thrain.'

'I do not believe we have met.' Thorin said, trying to be civil.

'You have your grandfather's bearing. I knew Thror when he ruled under the Mountain."

'Indeed; he made no mention of you.' Thorin spat, but Elrond ignored the insult and turned to the company, speaking in Elvish.

'_Nartho I noer, toltho I viruvor. Boe I annam vann a nethail vin_.'

'What is he saying? Does he offer us insult?' Gloin raged causing the dwarves to quickly grow flustered and gripped their weapons uneasily.

'No, master Gloin, he's offering you food.' Gandalf tutted, rolling his eyes as the dwarves quickly discussed this among themselves. Even though she was still pressed in the middle of the huddle she couldn't quite make out what they had decided but she knew that if it involved food, enemy or not, they would not decline.

'Ah well, in that case, lead on.'

'You men may go on, but it seems that some of your company need some attention' Elrond said, looking at Elizabeth, the muddy state she was.

What Elizabeth needed right now was a hot soapy bath and a fresh pair of clothes, and so was thankful well Lord Elrond suggested that she followed one of his hand maids, Lady Fethian, and she would find her some fresh clothes that are more appropriate for a lady. Elizabeth followed her silently, still worn out from the excessive amount of running she had just done. Lady Fethian led her to a luxurious bed chamber, perhaps the most beautiful room Elizabeth had ever seen in her life. The room was made completely out of white stone, with small flakes of greys and greens scattered around, a green similar to the long silken drapes that hung from the large bay window which had the most spectacular view imaginable. There was a long stretch of water running far off into the distance, as far as the eye could see.

'Excuse me, malady.' Fethian spoke with a soft almost angelic voice. She was very beautiful, with silver, almost pale blue hair that ran like a river down the full length of her back and ended just above the base of her spine. Her round eyes were the same colour as her hair, incredibly pale and yet piercing. 'I'm sorry but I do not believe I got your name.'

'Oh sorry, I'm Elizabeth Winters.'

'What a lovely name, Lady Elizabeth.' Fethian smiled a beautiful row of pearly white gleamed.

'Please, no lady, just Elizabeth. Lady makes me feel old.' Elizabeth insisted, she hated being called Lady, she didn't mind Miss all that much but Lady added about fifty years on her.

'Very well Elizabeth.' Fethian bowed. 'I have taken the care of requesting a bath to be drawn for you, it should be ready.'

'A bath sounds delightful right about now, thank you Fethian.'

'You're welcome.' She bowed again before walking forward. 'Miss, if you wish I can bring you a fresh pair of clothes for you and wash what you wear now.'

'Oh, I'd hate to be a bother, Fethian.'

'It's no trouble at all, I know where I can get something to fit you.'

'Thank you Fethian.' Fethian bowed a third and final time and left the room giving her some privacy. Elizabeth eagerly awaited her bath, so as soon as the door to the chambers was shut, she hurriedly stripped out of her sticky, sweat covered clothes and folded them on the floor, not wanting to get the crisp bed covers dirty.

Elizabeth ran into the bathroom where a large marble bath tub was waiting for her, filled almost to the brim with hot water. Sinking down into the bath, she sighed as the hot water lapped against her skin sending waves of heat through her body. She must have lay in the bath for a long while for by the time she washed her hair with many scented liquids, the water was cooling down. Stepping out of the bath, she wrapped a towel around her body and went over to a impressive glass wall to work on drying her hair, the only way she could see herself doing this would be with a towel.

Running her hands through her freshly cleaned and now dry hair, Elizabeth grabbed the top layer of her hair and tied it back off her face with a silver silk ribbon the Fethian had very kindly given to her, once in place she smoothed out the natural curls that fell down her chest and back, she let her fringe fall into place before pulling the rest of her hair back so it ran down her spine. She knew that the dwarves were more than likely already eating not having waited for her, the only member of the company that Elizabeth knew would wait for her before eating would be Bilbo. She smiled remembering when she first arrived at Bilbo home, the majority of the company lying in a pile at his feet and more devouring whatever he had in his pantry. Elizabeth caught a glance of her self in the mirror, her cheeks were blushing pink soon turning to a vibrant scarlet red, why was she acting like this?

Yes, Elizabeth admitted to herself that she did in fact have feelings for Bilbo, but this was ridiculous, every time she thought about him, she turned into a stupid giggling school girl. She had no idea why she was making such an effort, she wasn't planning on impressing anyone mainly due to the fact that throughout life, Elizabeth had learned that her affections on others were more or less wasted. A sudden knock on the door snapped her out of her little world, she opened the door to see Fethian standing in the door way, hold a gorgeous dress.

'I bought you this, it should be your size, miss.' Fethian said handing over the dress. 'I shall wait for you here, to let you get dressed.'  
'It's beautiful Fethian, thank you.' Elizabeth smiled and swiftly closed the door, excited about putting on the dress. Once it was on, she looked in the mirror and was shocked at just how beautiful she looked. The dress was a shimmering, pale yellow colour and dropped down to the floor so it covered her feet, she still needed to find Gandalf and figure out what was happening. The sleeves of the gown were also full length, they reached her wrist and gently cupped the back of her hands, of course it was a corset dress she could tell by how her breasts had been lifted up that it was, she was slightly uncomfortable with this, but shrugged it off.

Happy with her appearance, she made for the door subconsciously tucking a stray brown lock behind her ear, however when she did this she gasped and ran back to the mirror. She leaned forward to get a closer looked and almost screamed when she saw what was wrong. Her ear, which was once small and round, was now much like her feet slightly larger than before, this was not was scared her. What scared her was how the top of her ear was now at a slight point, not like a elf but more like a hobbi - _oh god_. Elizabeth covered her mouth not wanting to believing what was surely impossible. She needed to find Gandalf, and fast.

Bursting out of the bathroom, Fethian was still waiting, Elizabeth's old clothes had been washed and were folded neatly on the dresser in the corner of the room. 'There you are, I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long.'

'I was just admiring the dress, it's really beautiful.' 'You wouldn't happen to know where Gandalf is would you?'

'I'm afraid I do not, but I do know that your friends are in the dining area.'

Elizabeth followed Fethian out of the chambers, she wasn't looking where she was going and crashed right into someone. 'Oh, sorry!' she quickly blurted out an apology only to look up and see that it was just the person she needed to see. 'Gandalf! I'm sorry.'

'It's quite alright my dear.' He smiled down at her, but his smile faded when he saw her over anxious expression. 'Is every alright Miss Winters, you look as if something is distracting you.'

'Gandalf, something is happening to me and I'm not sure what, but I'm scared.' She quickly said in a hushed voice so no one near by could hear. Gingerly, she showed him her feet and proceeded to lift her hair, revealing her ears. Much to her surprise the wizard did not react, it was almost as if he was studying her.

'Well although it is such a rare thing to happen, it is not however, unheard of. I know of only a small amount of similar occurrences.'  
'Yes, but what is it. What's happening?'

'As I say I know of but a small handful of these happenings and going by what I have seen, you are changing Miss Winters.'  
'What do you mean changing? Changing how?'

'Allow me to put it rather bluntly, if you don't mind.' She shook her head showing him he showed her no disrespect. 'I believe that this is all happening because of your current situation, and as you are no longer living in your own world, it seems that your body is slowly, but surely, changing itself to adapt to that of a new life in Middle Earth.'

Elizabeth stood there, staring at the wizard, not fully understanding what he was trying to say. 'If I'm not me, who ever I was, then...I don't understand.' She admitted.

'It's not a case of who you are my dear, but rather what you are?'

'Okay.' She nodded. 'Nope, I still don't understand.'

'Oh how can I put it any simpler?' Gandalf sighed running his hand over his face, exasperated. 'Your previous life no longer exists, yes?' She nodded slowly. 'And yet you are living and breathing, more than likely due to the fact that you are no longer yourself. Yourself being human.'

'Wait, so I'm not human?' Elizabeth said slowly making sure she had heard him right. 'If I'm not human then what am I?'

'Well my dear, going by your sudden change in appearance' Gandalf pointed at her feet. 'You appear to be a halfling.'

'Halfling?'

'A hobbit.' Elizabeth just stared at the wizard trying to comprehend what was actually going on. A hobbit? _I'm a hobbit? But that was impossible, it could not be._ _Could it?_ How could she have gone from being human to suddenly being that of a completely different race over night, it made no sense. Now that she thought about it, being a hobbit was probably the best thing that could have happened, she didn't get to choose what she was, it was the luck of the draw and she was lucky and extremely grateful that she wasn't a troll or worse, an Orc. The thought was enough to make her shudder.

'Okay.' She smiled up at Gandalf, who looked slightly bemused.

'Okay?' He asked half expecting something more colourful that 'Okay'

'Yeah sure, a hobbit. Why not?' Elizabeth shrugged, and started walking over the bridge leading to the dining area leaving a very bewildered and confused wizard behind.

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**So did anyone guess she would turn into a hobbit? I know that Vulcanlover12 did, I'm so proud of you :D!**

**Translations**

**Lastannem I athrannedh I Vruinen. - We heard you had crossed into the Valley.**

**Ifridî bekâr! - Ready weapons!**

**Mellonnen! Mo evínedh? - My friend! Where have you been?**

**Farannem 'lamhoth I udul o charad. Dagannem rim na Iant Vedui. - We've been hunting a pack of Orcs that came up from the South. We slew a number near the Hidden Pass.**

**Nartho I noer, toltho I viruvor. Boe I annam vann a nethail vin. -Light the fires, bring forth the wine. We must feed our guests.**


	10. Chapter Ten - Burdens & Confessions

**I do not own The Hobbit or Lord Of The Rings in any way. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I chose to introduce in the future.**

**Hello again, god I bet you are all sick of the sight of me. But for the past two or three days, I've been an a major writing spree. Seriously I can't stop, I think there's something wrong with me.**

**So here is the chapter a lot of you have been asking about, I hope you like it.**

**Enjoy :D!**

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Elizabeth was in love. She had fallen in love with Rivendell the moment she stepped into it, it was so peaceful, there was no noise, just the soft sounds of the harpists and the waterfalls. I could live here. She thought as she sat down at the table, in between Bilbo and Balin.

Elizabeth caught wind of something that sounded oddly like her name, it was hushed but she was sure she could hear someone say her name like they were talking about her. Looking around her eyes fell to the top of the table where Thorin was leaning very close to a seemingly annoyed Kili. 'What was I supposed to do Uncle, let the orc kill her?' she heard Kili retort to his uncle.

'It was her own doing Kili! She is not a fighter, she has been nothing but a burden to us all. Her and Mr Baggins.'

She did not need to listen to this, she had done nothing wrong and yet she was supposed to sit there and let Thorin Oakenshield throw his weight around and insult her and Bilbo, who were only on this ridiculous quest in the first place because he needed their help. She stood suddenly from her seat, deliberately pushing her plate away from her louder than necessary, she just wanted to make sure Thorin knew his whispers were not so secret after all.

Elizabeth walked, trying to clear her head, until she came to a bridge that overlooked to entirety of Rivendell, in all its beauty. Despite trying her best to not let her emotions get the better of her, she could not stop the tears from falling. It had been an emotion couple of days, she didn't even know how long she had been here. First there was dying, which in fairness didn't really bother her as much as she thought it should. Then there was almost dying again, and after recently being told she was no longer a human, but a hobbit the last thing she needed was Thorin bloody Oakenshield making it worse.

'Elizabeth?' She heard a quiet familiar voice behind her. Lifting her head she saw Bilbo standing behind her, shuffling from one foot to the other, when he saw her teary red eyes his face softened in sympathy. 'Are you alright?'

Choking back a sob, she shook her head. 'I can't do it anymore Bilbo. I can't carry on pretending I'm okay when I'm not.'

'What do you mean?'

'I'm dead and I've been dead this entire time. How can I - I mean I can't just brush that off and act like everything is okay because it's not. I can't pretend that I belong here because I don't!' The tears were really falling now as she broke down sobbing. Soon enough she was wrapped up in Bilbo's arms with her face buried into his chest and he cradled her head and gently brushed her hair with his free hand, soothing her.

'Am I a burden?' She asked suddenly. Bilbo looked down at her surprised by her question.

'Why do you ask that?'

'I over heard Thorin tell Kili that he was wrong to save me from the Orc, that he should of let me die.' At this she felt Bilbo's grip tighten on her shoulder.'He's right, I'm not a fighter, I'm nothing more than a stupid girl who is in way over her own head.' Her voice cracked as more tears threatened to come. 'I'm sorry.' She whispered as she pushed her self up from his chest to dry her eyes. Bilbo did not loosen his grip, he kept a strong hold of her, one hand moving to cup the side of her face, wiping away any stray tears; the other was rubbing soft circles along her knuckles.

'You are most certainly not a burden Elizabeth Winters, never let anyone tell you other wise.'

'But if I'm not a fighter, then what am I?'

'You are unbelievably amazing. You are smart, caring, beautiful and stronger than any one I know. But most importantly, you are you, and no one is going to change that.'

'Oh Bilbo.' She hugs him laughing.

'I'm serious you know. I meant every word.' He whispered on to the top of her head. She sits up straight once more, his hand slides down to her neck, the other still circling her hand.

'You really think I'm beautiful?' She asked batting her eyelashes in a joking flirtatious way.

'I do. Of course I do.' Elizabeth sat motionless for what seemed like hours, waiting for herself to respond in someway. She couldn't believe he was serious, the more they stared at each other, the more flushed her checks had become.

'Bilbo.' Was all she managed to whisper.

'Yes?' It took another few seconds of staring at each other before Elizabeth could reply. 'If you're going to kiss me you better do it now because this is getting really awkwa-' Elizabeth was cut off by Bilbo as he timidly brought his head down to hers, lightly brushing her lips at first, testing her reaction. A small gasp breathed through Elizabeth's partly opened mouth causing their lips to briefly skim over each others again.

Something sparked inside Elizabeth and she lifted her head, crashing her lips against his. In truth they were both shocked by how over powering their need for one another was as Bilbo trapped Elizabeth in his arms holding her to him as her hands snaked up around his neck, one hand toying with the thick curls at the top of his neck, running the other through his hair.

It all ended too quickly for them, as they pulled apart completely breathless, Elizabeth moved to rest her head on his shoulder. 'Do you remember in Bag End, when you asked me where you belonged?' She nodded into his shoulder in response. 'I think I now know the answer.' He told her making her look at him, her eyebrows slightly pulled together. 'With me Elizabeth. You belong with me.'

Elizabeth sat speechless, her eyes brimming with tears as she reached up to grab his face pulling him down for another passionate kiss. 'There's something you should know.' She said after they pulled apart, grabbing his hands she looked him sternly in the eyes. 'I know that this is going to sound strange, but I've been noticing some things about myself have been changing lately.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well first there was this.' She bent down to pull the bottom of the dress up to reveal her now fully turned hobbit feet. She searched Bilbo's face, looking for any change in emotion but her simply sat there staring at her feet confused. 'Then, not long after we arrived here, I noticed this.' She hesitated before slowly pulling her hair back showing him her slightly pointed ears. Again, Bilbo said nothing. 'I've spoken to Gandalf, and he said that because I am no longer alive in my home land, my body is changing to give me a new life. He also said that...' She took a breath, still hesitant. 'He also said that I'm a hobbit.'

She was still searching Bilbo's face looking for any alteration in expression, he looked back down to her feet before looking her in the eye. 'And he is sure about this?'

'He sounded pretty sure.'

'But are you happy with it, that's what is important.'

'I know, of course I'm happy Bilbo. I feel great and as cheesy as it sounds I now feel at home, like this is what I was meant to be.' Bilbo gently cupped her face and placed a sweet kiss on her naturally plump lips. 'Now I think we should ger back to the feast before they send a search party after us.' She said as they broke apart. Bilbo chuckled quietly as Elizabeth intertwined her fingers with his, causing him to blush as he looked at her. She smiled at him, and jumped up to give him a peck on the lips.

_There is no denying it._ Elizabeth though to herself. _I, Elizabeth Winters, am in love with Bilbo Baggins._


	11. Chapter Eleven - Dinner Entertainment

**I do not own The Hobbit or The Lord Of The Rings. I only own my OC, Elizabeth and an others I choose to introduce in the future.**

**Thanks to Ajay131, aeriestar, Huntress111111, aandm20, PurpleDolphinPlush, Kayley welch and taylorann323 for favouriting and following.**

**Vulcanlover12 - I love reading your reviews, they always make me laugh. I'm pretty excited about writing Gollum, it's another of my all time favourite scenes.**

**Also, I'm now super annoyed, I had all the chapters typed up and ready to go all the way up until about halfway through The Desolation Of Smaug, and when I went to open them, they came up blank and I have no way of getting them back. So now I have to try to remember what I wrote for each one, and it sucks:(**

**And it's my 17th birthday on Sunday, so I don't think I'll be able to update until next week because I'm being forced to celebrate with family. **

**Anyway, enough of me ranting. Enjoy :D**

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Bilbo and Elizabeth returned to the dining area, fingers inter twined and sat down at the table next to each other, earning some looks of well knowing from the dwarves. Elizabeth looked up the table at the array of delicious looking food, granted it was all green foods and fruits it didn't bother her that much, but it seemed that the dwarves were having some problems adjusting to their menu.

'Try it. Just a mouthful.' She heard Dori try to coax his younger brother into eating a piece of salad

'I don't like green food.' Ori protested turning his head away from the leaf.

'Where's the meat?' Dwalin grumbled as he delved though a bowl of greens, at the same time, Oin was seated next to him and was holding up a vegetable with his knife and looking at it rather disgusted.

'Have they got any chips?' Ori asked, making Elizabeth giggle. She was in such a great mood that she didn't mind having to eat grass and leaves, or the fact that across the table from her Fili and Kili were giving her smug looks and wagging their eyes brows as the shifted their gazes between her and Bilbo. Reaching under the table, she took Bilbo's hand again, lacing her fingers through his, enjoying the feel of his touch.

Another thing the dwarves didn't seem all to keen on was the Elven music playing behind them, there was three women seated not too far away, two were playing the harp and one was walking around the table playing a flute. Oin didn't seem to like it judging by the napkin he was busy stuffing in his hearing device.

Lord Elrond was seated at the top of the table with Gandalf, the pair of them deep in conversation, observing the swords they had found in the troll caves. Feeling Bilbo slip his hand out of hers, Elizabeth turned her focus back to the table where the company were still complaining about the lack of meat. She saw that Bilbo had taken the sword Gandalf had given him out of it's leather holster and was looking back over to Lord Elrond and Gandalf.

'I won't bother if I were you laddie.' Balin said from the seat next to Bilbo. 'Most swords are names for the battles they've seen and the deeds they've done.'

Bilbo's eyebrows pulled together as he looked up towards to elderly dwarve. 'So what are you saying? My sword hasn't seen battle?'

'I'm not all to sure that it is actually a sword.' Balin said with a small sad smile. 'It's more of a letter opener really.' Elizabeth also unsheathed her sword and wondered if it had a great name. 'If I didn't know any better, I'd say the same thing about yours too lass.' With a slight frown, Elizabeth pushed her 'letter opener' back in to its holder and pulled it back onto her waist.

They general conversations of the room slowly began to build back up, Elizabeth looked over the table to see Kili staring at her quite intensely. She stared back for a few moments before squinting her eyes at him in a confused way. 'Kili?' She leaned forward ever so slightly, gasping a bit as he pursed his lips as if he was about to kiss her. 'Kili, what are you doing and why are you looking at me like that?' she whispered quickly and quietly, trying not to attract any other attention. As she spoke, Kili seemed to snap out of a trance and abruptly sat back in his chair._  
_

'What? Oh, uh...nothing. I wasn't doing anything.' He said, but his gaze was shifting to just behind Elizabeth. she turned and saw a very young elf sitting playing one of the harps. She looked incredibly young, maybe about seventeen at the most, her long dark hair was all but managing to cover her quickly blushing face. Elizabeth smiled politely at the young elf and turned back to the table, giving Kili a stern look, like a mother would her son.

'What?' He asked innocently. 'Personally, I don't see the attraction with elves.' He muttered quiet enough so the young maiden could not hear him. 'None can compare with the dwarven women, especially if they do not have a beard.' He said pointedly.

'Yes because you are the expert on beards aren't you?' Elizabeth said with a wicked smile.

'Oi!' Kili exclaimed throwing a slice of bread at her, hitting her on the arm. She threw it back, and Kili ducked sending the bread flying into the face of the flute playing elf behind him. The she-elf abruptly stopped playing and looked around slightly confused about where the bread came from. Elizabeth immediately put her head down, pretending she was looking at her food, she stifled a laugh as she saw Kili was biting on his knuckle attempting the same.

'Oi, change the song would you?' Nori said over his shoulder to the harp players. 'I feel like I'm at a funeral.'

At the word _funeral_ Elizabeth saw Ori's little head snap up. 'F-funeral? Has some one died?'

'No Ori, no one has died.' Elizabeth reassured him.

'Right.' Bofur declared, hitting his hand on the table. 'This calls for some entertainment!' He jumped up on to his seat and then hopped on to the dining table. The room went silent for the 'entertainment'

**_There's an inn, there's an inn, there's an merry old inn _**  
**_Beneath an old grey hill,_**  
**_And there they brew a beer so brown_**  
**_That The Man in the Moon himself came down _**  
**_One night to drink his fill._**

**_The ostler has a tipsy cat_**  
**_That plays a five string fiddle;_**  
**_And up and down he saws his bow_**  
**_Now squeaking high, now purring low_**  
**_Now sawing in the middle._**

The company clapped, stamped and sang along with Bofur, it was an obvious favourite of theirs. Elizabeth clapped along with them as Bofur skipped up and down the table, narrowly avoiding kicking glasses and smashing plates.

**_So the cat on the fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,_**  
**_A jig that would wake the dead:_**  
**_He squeaked and he sawed and he quickened the tune_**  
**_While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon:_**

**_'It's after three.' he said!_**

The company laughed and cheered as Bofur jumped up and down on the table, obviously having a great time. Elizabeth admired their spirit, everything was always so happy and joyous when with the dwarves.

'Come on lassie, a song!' Bofur declared whilst dragging Elizabeth upon on to the table with him.

'No I don't sing. I'd love to but...'

'Nonsense!' Fili shouted taking a swig of ale. 'Come on, sing, sing, sing!' Fili's chanting spread around the table, she looked down to Bilbo and laughed to find him joining in with the chanting also, a wild grin on his face.

'Alright fine, I'll sing.' She said holding her hands up in a mock surrender. 'But only the one song.' She warned, pointing her finger at them all.

**_Oh the desert dreams of a river_**  
**_That will run down to the sea,_**  
**_Like my heart longs for an ocean_**  
**_To wash down over me._**

**_Oh won't you take me from this valley_**  
**_To that mountain high above,_**  
**_Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face_**  
**_I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love._**

Elizabeth seemed to gain confidence the further she got in to song, the more she got in to the spirit. She loosened her shoulder and slowly began to move her hips to the beat of the lyrics, this did not go unnoticed by her audience and she received whistles and cheers from the dwarves as she continued to sway her hips and sing.

**_Oh the outcast dreams of acceptance_**  
**_Just to find pure love's embrace,_**  
**_Like an orphan longs for its mother_**  
**_May you hold me in your grace._**

**_Oh won't you take me from this valley_**  
**_To that mountain high above,_**  
**_Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face_**  
**_I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love._**

**_Oh the caged bird dreams of a strong wind_**  
**_That will flow beneath her wings,_**  
**_Like a voice longs for a melody_**  
**_Oh Jesus, carry me._**

**_Oh won't you take me from this valley_**  
**_To that mountain high above_**  
**_Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face_**  
**_I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love_**  
**_Oh I will pray, pray, pray till I see your smiling face_**  
**_I will pray, pray, pray to the one that I love._**

She finished the song with a rapturous applaud and cheers from everyone in the dining area it seemed, even Thorin she noticed had managed a smile as he bowed his head to her. Bashfully curtsying, she looked down to see Bilbo holding his hand out to help her down from the table. Taking his hand, she gracefully hopped down from the table only to be swept up into a warm embrace.

'That was beautiful, I had no idea you could sing.' Bilbo whispered in her ear.

'Well we all have our little secrets.' She winked giving him a peck on the nose before returning to her seat at the table.

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_**Elizabeth's song - From This Valley by The Civil Wars**_


	12. Chapter Twelve - Stone Giants

**I do not own The Hobbit or The Lord Of The Rings. I only own my OC, Elizabeth and an others I choose to introduce in the future.**

**Thanks to lynnelay, RenaRoo123 and LadyKakashi89 for favouriting and following.**

**Wow guys, this story had reached 50 followers, nearly 50 favourites and over 5000 views! Thank you so much for continuing to read this and stick by me.**

**Thanks to those who sent me some lovely birthday messages, they were really sweet :)**

**Enjoy :D**

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After the previous nights' festivities, which consisted of eating, sing, dancing and heavy drinking, mainly by the dwarves. Elizabeth was not one for getting drunk, quite frankly she didn't like it and didn't see the fun in it, but for some reason the previous night, she got to the stage she liked to call 'happy drunk'. She could remember telling the company of her new 'changes', and was quite surprised to see them react as if it was normal. She couldn't exactly remember what time she went back to her room, or even how she got there, but the last thing she remembered was lying by the fireplace, almost asleep.

Everyone was woken up just before the crack of dawn the next morning, by an inpatient Thorin who instructed that they would be leaving Rivendell under the hour, as to make sure that the Elves did not know that we were going against their clear instructions. Thorin had been summoned to a meeting with the Elven council late last night, along with Gandalf, Balin and Bilbo; when they returned Thorin informed the company of how the Elves believed their quest to be reckless and fatal.

In order to avoid being seen as they passed the over look of Rivendell, the company were packed up and already on the move before first light.

The company's journey across the treacherous Misty Mountains was made made significantly more dangerous by the torrential down fall of heavy rain and billowing winds of the ferocious storm that swirled around them. The mountain trail was narrow and rocky with a cliff on one side and nothing preventing them from falling down the sheer drop on the other. The mountain face was illuminated with each flash of lightening which was quickly followed by a deep roll of thunder.

"Hold on!" Thorin usually booming voice was nothing more than a whisper in the wind. Elizabeth and Bilbo were walking side by side, their arms linked for support and to make sure they were definitely safe, Fili and Kili had positioned themselves either side of the two halflings. Elizabeth gave a startled yell when Bilbo suddenly slipped from her grasp as the slippery rocks beneath his feet gave way, he would have without a doubt fell into the chasm, if it were not for the dwarven princes pulling him back to safety in time "We must find shelter!"

"Watch out!" Dwalin yelled.

They all looked up only to see a massive boulder soaring through the air hitting the mountainside above them, causing large chunks rocks to shower down on them as they pressed themselves against the rock face trying to shield their bodies from the falling debris.

"This is no thunderstorm." Balin said pointing into the rain and the distance. "It's a thunder battle. Look!"

Just then a huge dark rocky figure reared up from a nearby mountain range and tore a massive boulder from the top of the mountain.

"Oh my god." Elizabeth breathed heavily once she saw the full-scale of the figure. "What is that?"

"Well bless me, the legends are true." Bofur said leaning further to the cliff edge, in complete wonder of the figure "Giants; stone giants."

"Take cover you fools!" Thorin shouted as Kili quickly grasped Bofur and pulled him back from the edge.

"What's happening?" Kili asked as the first giant threw the large fragment of boulder soaring through the air, colliding with the head of another giant that had reared up behind them.

It was hard to make out one cry from another as the dwarves yelled at each other to hold on and take cover. Elizabeth could feel the rocks beneath their feet begin to crumble and slip away from the tremors of the thunder battle. She looked around in a blind panic as the ground beneath her started to split and pull apart, Kili was quick to lift her in his arms and put her down on his other side where she quickly latched onto Gloin for support.

"Kili! Grab my hand!" Elizabeth whipped round in time to see the mountain side split in two, separating the two brother on either side. "Kili…" Fili called out to Kili as they reached for each other, but to no avail as Fili was pulled away from his brother along with Bilbo and several others.

As the two stone giants fought, knocking into each other with their fists, Elizabeth held on to Kili as they were thrown around, they suddenly hit the mountain side leaving enough time for them all to run and jump onto a rocky ledge out-of-the-way of the battle.

Suddenly, out of no where, a third stone giant appeared and hurtled a boulder through the air, hitting both of he giants on the other side. Seeing the giant which held their friends, Elizabeth wanted to scream in anguish but no words came to her mouth. She clung harder to Kili and they had no choice but to watch in horror as their loved ones fell with the giant, brutally colliding with the mountain side.

"No, no Kili!" _Wait, Kili is right here_. Elizabeth thought as Thorin called out as they ran around the bend of the mountain path.

Elizabeth could hear the sigh if relief that went through the group as she heard the familiar voice of Balin calling out. "We're alright! We're alive." Elizabeth and Kili ran to help then to their feet, Kili instantly found his brother and threw his arms around him refusing to let go. Elizabeth was helping Bofur stand when he started to look around the company with an unsettling growing panic.

"Where's Bilbo?" Bofur called out fearfully. "Where's the hobbit?"

"Bilbo!" She shouted, hoping to see a head of curly hair pop up from some where.

"There!" Oin said pointing to the ledge where Bilbo was hanging by the tips of his fingers over the gaping chasm, his eyes wide with terror and fear.

"Get him!" Dwalin shouted as Elizabeth and Ori dove and reached for him, desperately trying to grab his hands. With a gasp Bilbo suddenly slipped and Elizabeth screamed as pictures of him falling deep down below flooded through her head, he managed to catch a hold of another jut in the rocks. By this time Bofur and Fili were kneeling over the ledge, also trying to reach Bilbo but he was too far down to reach.

Without warning, Thorin jumped down over the ledge and hung from one hand as he grabbed Bilbo by the arm and hoisted him up towards the ledge where Bofur and Fili grabbed him and pulled him ran forward and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Dwalin knelt to help Thorin back on to the ledge, when Thorin's grip loosened and he fell a couple of meters before Dwalin snapped his arm out and latched on to his wrist, heaving him up with all his strength. 'I thought we'd lost our burglar.' Dwalin said once Thorin was safely back on the ledge.

'He's been lost ever since he left home.' Thorin lashed out glaring at Bilbo. 'He should never have come. He has no place amongst us.' It was clear to everyone that Bilbo was hurt by these words. Elizabeth mustered up the courage to say something and was about to, when Fili put a hand on he shoulder, and held her back, shaking his head.

They walked on silently until they found a cave nearby. 'It looks safe enough.' Dwalin said looking around as the rest of the company entered the cave cautiously.

'Search all the way into the back; caves in mountains are seldom unoccupied.' Thorin ordered. Dwalin did as instructed and searched the cave with a lit lantern. 'There's nothing here.'

Gloin dropped a bundle of wood by Elizabeth's feet, making her jump, she was already feeling uncomfortable as if something was wrong. 'Right then! Let's get a fire started.' Gloin said rubbing his hands together in anticipation. Elizabeth looked around the room warily. 'I don't think that's a good idea.'

'No, it's not. No fires, not here.' Thorin said, Elizabeth noticed that he too was looking uncomfortable. 'Everyone get some sleep. We start again at first light.'

'We were to wait in the mountains until Gandalf joined us.' Balin said walking up to Thorin. 'That was the plan.'

Elizabeth nodded in agreement with Balin, as well as Nori and Bifur. 'He's right, we should wait.'

'And we will wait.' Thorin said looking at Elizabeth. 'We will wait until first light, and then we will leave.' Elizabeth scoffed and shook her head at the arrogant dwarven king as he turned to tell Bofur he was on first watch. Bofur opened his mouth to say something, but Thorin had already turned around.

Elizabeth nestled on the sandy floor next to Ori and Bilbo. Bilbo had his arm wrapped tightly around her shoulders as she rested her head on his chest. Elizabeth managed to fall asleep, both emotionally and physically exhausted from their long day. After sleeping for what seemed like hours, Elizabeth was woken up by Bilbo gently shaking her shoulder, she sat up slightly, minding not to wake Ori up who had decided that her stomach was a much more comfortable pillow than his coat. 'What's wrong?' She whispered, when looking at Bilbo she saw that he was carrying his ruck sack and the stick he had been using as a walking aid. 'What are you doing?'

'We're going back to Rivendell.' Bilbo said before quickly pulling her to her feet, and walked to the entrance of the cave. She tried to protest, but what ever she said seemed unheard. As they neared to entrance, she forgot that Bofur was sitting on watch until he scrambled to his feet over to the hobbits.

'Where do you think you're going?' Bofur asked in a low whisper so the others wouldn't be awakened.

'We're leaving' Bilbo replied.

'No, no, you can't turn back now, you're part of the Company, both of ye's are' Bofur said. 'You're one of us.'

Bilbo shook his head 'I'm not though, am I?' He said, a little too loud. Elizabeth looked back over her shoulder to make sure no one had woken up, she found them all still sleeping. 'Thorin said I should never have some, and he was right. I'm not a Took, I'm a Baggins, I don't know what I was thinking. I should have never run out my door.' Bilbo said a little quieter, Elizabeth could see the hurt on his face.

'But if you leave now, then you are proving him right.' She said, lightly grasping Bilbo's free hand and Bofur gave him a sad smile. 'You're homesick; I understand.' He said.

'No, you don't, you don't understand.' Bilbo exclaimed, still whispering. 'Not a single one of you do because you're dwarves. You're use to…to this kind of life, to living on the road, never settling in one place, not belonging anywhere…' _Oh_ _no Bilbo_. Elizabeth watched as Bofur's expression changed, he looked hurt. 'I am sorry, I didn't…' Bilbo began to apologize but Bofur held up a hand to stop him.

'No you're right. We don't belong anywhere.' Bofur said as he looked over at his sleeping friends. Elizabeth felt sorry for him and so she also grabbed his hand as a friendly gesture. He turned to her and gave her a smile before turning back to Bilbo and placed his free hand on the hobbits shoulder. 'I wish you all the luck in the world, I really do.' Bilbo gave a quick nod. 'You too Lady Winters.' Bofur said giving her a sweet kiss of the forehead.

'What did I tell you about calling me Lady?' Elizabeth said with a weak smile. She really didn't want to leave, but if she wanted to be with Bilbo then she knew she must. Turning to follow after Bilbo, something caught her eye. A faint glow was coming from the belt fastened around Bilbo's waist. Bofur must have noticed it too 'What's that?'

Bilbo looked down and slowly pulled out his sword, it was now glowing blue. All three of them stopped when suddenly a strange groaning sound filled the cave.

'Wake up! Wake up!' Thorin suddenly shouted bringing everyone to attention, but before anyone can react the floor of the cave collapsed downwards, opening up to reveal a deep pit below. Elizabeth screamed in shock as the floor beneath her opened up too and she fell through the floor, she flung her arms out hoping to grab a hold of either Bilbo or Bofur. She, along with the entire company fell own the chute, sliding through a tunnel lined with rough stone and rocks that dug harder into Elizabeth's back the further the fell. She grunted as she landed hard on her back on top of Dwalin. She was quickly covered by Fili who quickly rolled off of her and apologized. They were in some kind of giant wooden cage, and they struggle to get everyone to their feet, Elizabeth gasped as she saw a horde of goblins charging straight for them, their weapons brandished, ready to attack.


	13. Chapter 13 - Gollum

**I do not own The Hobbit or Lord Of The Rings in any way. I only own my OC Elizabeth and any others I introduce in the future.**

**Thanks to Protagonist Of Life, sweetlillian, KissMeSlowly143, danoc, PrincessBubbles2011, EvesD, SillyZesty, TwitchingHades and AmethystSiri for following and favouriting.**

**Protagonist Of Life - aww thank you. I love writing them so much, it think they are adorable, I still worry that I make some people want to physically vomit at the fluff.**

**Kyle (guest) - Thank you for taking the time to review. In some ways I do agree with what you have said, in some place I do find that their relationship had progressed much quicker than I had planned, but I wanted it to be sort of a whirl wind romance. I was also worried that it would become a little slow and repetitive if I made it go too slow. As to your point about the culture change, I also agree, but you see, I've tried to make Elizabeth a simple girl, I haven't given her the knowledge of the Hobbit like most other stories, and I did attempt to make her have some slight culture shock when in Rivendell, I suppose that now she is a hobbit she has forgotten about her other life. Anyway thanks again for the review, I will try and remember your points for future reference.**

**I literally wrote this during intermission of my show on my IPhone, so I apologise if there are any mistakes, I don't have enough time to go back through and re write anything - I'm kind of busy being a King and everything. I've also noticed that it is taking me a while to write each chapter probably because I'm making every thing so long winded, so from now on I'm just going to shorten everything down and just get on with the story, so some of it will probably sound really bad, but it makes it so much easier for me to write and get all my ideas in.**

**Enjoy :D**

* * *

Elizabeth had hardly any time to draw her own weapon before a goblin had grabbed her arms and was harshly tugging at her skin, nipping it as it tried to pull her away. She fought and struggled against its grasp, eventually managing to kick it in it's disgustingly pertruding stomach. The goblin squealed and coiled backwards away from her. Spinning round she saw that everyone else was also struggling to escape the grasps of the goblins.

Feeling a hand grab hers, Elizabeth gasped when she was pulled to the ground. She was ready to strike and hit who ever it was when she felt a hand cover her mouth muffling her scream. She opened her eyes and was relieved to see Bilbo crouched down next to her, his hand held hers while his other was still covering her mouth. They remained huddled together on the floor while the goblins grabbed and ushered the resisting dwarves across a rope bridge to somewhere unknown.

Once they were almost certain they were alone, they cautiously rose to their feet with their hands still clasped tightly around each others. Bilbo had drawn his sword, which was glowing blue, and they started to hesitantly follow the path which their friends were taken. Before they had even made it to the bridge, a Goblin suddenly jumped down in front of them, he must have been watching them from above.

Bilbo grabbed Elizabeth and pulled her behind him as he squared up against the goblin. Elizabeth watch from over Bilbo's shoulder as the goblin charged at them with his sword high in the air ready to strike. With the first blow, Bilbo counter attacked it pushing the goblin backwards away from them, however it was soon back on it's feet and was bounding towards them again, with vengeance in its eyes.

Bilbo continued to protect the two of them, blocking each of the goblin's strikes and making sure that he was in front of Elizabeth at all times. The goblin, however, somehow managed to catch Bilbo off guard and had latched itself onto the hobbit's back. Elizabeth cringed and ran forward to help Bilbo as he let out a cry of pain as the goblin sunk its gnarled teeth into the flesh of Bilbo's ear. Elizabeth grabbed the goblin by the neck and attempted to pull it off of Bilbo's back, making the goblin harshly backhand her across the face, its metal armour caught her lip and ripped through the flesh, splitting straight through her lip in a diagonal line.

For the size of the wound, she was surprised to see that there was only a small amount of blood running down her chin. Before she had managed to pick herself up off the ground, she was hit by something solid and was sent rolling backwards. She screamed as the ground suddenly disappeared from beneath her as she tumbled over the ledge. 'Elizabeth!'

She flailed her arms in the air, hoping to find something to grab onto. Luckily she managed to get a hard grip of a stray length of thick rope that was hanging down the the rafters above her head. The sudden change in direction and force made her slide further down the rope before stopping abruptly with a gasp of pain, her hands stung from the burns produced by the friction of the rope. Elizabeth whipped her head up to look back at the ledge when she heard a high pitched squeal from above. She saw the goblin suddenly fall from the ledge too, along with Bilbo who tried to grab onto the side but just hit off it and continued to fall.

Elizabeth tried to reach out and grab him as he fell towards her, however when she grabbed his arm her arm snapped forward and they both fell down into the deep cavern below, as the ground drew nearer Elizabeth gasped in pain as she hit her head off a jagged piece of rock and she blacked out before she reached the bottom.

**OoO**

When Bilbo came back to his senses, he found himself lying on his back in a dark cavern surrounded by mushrooms, looking up at the ledge he had just fallen from. He tried to move himself so he was sitting up but found that there was a weight restricting him. Looking down her saw Elizabeth lying unconscious on his chest, her face was tilted upwards so her forehead was nearly touching his chin. Bilbo gently brushed her hair from her face and gave a sharp hiss as he saw her wounded lip which had now been joined by a deep gash that was bleeding badly, it started on the bridge of her nose and went along her cheekbone and ended back up at the edge of her thick brow.

Bilbo wiped the majority of the blood away with the sleeve of his jacket as he moved her so they were both sitting up with her head still on his chest. 'Elizabeth' he whispered in her ear. 'Come on, wake up.' He gently shook her shoulders but her head fell back into the crook of his arm. 'No.' Bilbo whispered to himself. _Don't be dead. Please._

He kissed her forehead and continued to shake her gently. Bilbo jumped when Elizabeth suddenly gasped loudly as the air rushed to her lungs and she sat bolt upright, choking for breath. _  
_

'Shh. It's okay, it's okay!' Biblo quickly grabbed her face between his hands and pulled her close so their foreheads were touching. They stayed there until Elizabeth was calm and her breathing had returned back to normal.

'Wh-where are we?' She whispered, her eyes still closed.

'I don't know.' Bilbo replied. 'Probably deep inside the mountain.'

They both straightened up and looked at the surroundings. Elizabeth could see the goblin who attacked them lying nearby, nearly dead, its chest ever so slightly rising and falling. Elizabeth went to stand up but Bilbo quickly pulled her down again, placing a finger on his lips when suddenly they could both hear a strange haggard breathing sound drawing closer.

'Yes. Yes. Yes!' A strange, hunched over, almost human like creature scuttled toward the goblin, wearing nothing but a cloth around its waist. 'Gollum! Gollum!'

The two hobbits watched as the creature, Gollum, circled around the goblin on all fours. He then grabbed its feet and began to pull the goblin away deeper into the mountain.

Suddenly, the goblin woke up and began thrashing around, kicking at Gollum, who in a blind fury grabbed a rock and roughly dropped it repeatedly on the goblin's head, knocking it unconscious again and he continued pulling it away. 'Nasty goblinses. Better than old bones, precious. Better than nothing'

As soon as the creature was out of sight, Bilbo and Elizabeth cautiously emerged from their hiding spot. 'I think we should follow him.' Bilbo said.

'What!' Elizabeth hissed back. 'What if that thing is dangerous?'

Bilbo looked in the direction that Gollum disappeared to. 'He could lead us to a way out of here.'

'For all we know he could kill us'

'We could easily defend ourselves. We both have swords.' Bilbo said taking his sword from its leather holder.

'Swords that neither of us have used before.' she said. He looked at her, thinking hard before giving her a small smile.

'Let's hope we don't have to.' He grabbed her hand and they walked on through a tunnel, when suddenly a reflection caught his eye. 'Wait' He knelt down and picked up what appeared to be a golden ring. He held it out in his open palm and showed it to Elizabeth.

'What are you doing?' She asked as he pushed it into his pocket. Bilbo didn't get a chance to reply before they heard what seemed to be Gollum singing in the distance. They followed the sound of the voice, Bilbo still had his sword extended in front of him, its faint blue glow lighting the tunnel walls.

'_The cold hard lands, they bites our hands, they gnaws our feet. The rocks and stones, they're like old bones, all bare of meat. Cold as death, they have no breath, it's good to eat!_' As they rounded the corner, Elizabeth saw Gollum's silhouette on top of a large rock that was submerged in the centre of a lake. She watched carefully, and at the same time her eyes were constantly looking around to find another way out.

Gollum was still singing in the distance as he beat the goblins body repeatedly with the rock, before smashing it in the head with a rock. Without thinking Bilbo walked onward, still holding Elizabeth's hand and his sword still glowing in the dark. Although the glow of the sword was faint, it still caught the creatures attention and Gollum looked up.

Bilbo quickly pushed Elizabeth behind a rock and ducked down after her, realizing that his sword was still glowing brightly.

'It saw us.' Elizabeth whimpered. Her heart was beating so fast that she nearly didn't see the light of the sword started to flicker before dying out completely. _He killed it._

Elizabeth subtly peeked out from behind the rock, and her eyes quickly widened in fear as she saw that the Gollum was no longer there. 'Where is he?'

Bilbo too looked slowly out from behind the rock, but upon hearing a faint noise above them, he looked up and found Gollum's pale blue orbs staring down at them. Elizabeth cried out and Gollum jumped down in front of the pair.

'Bless us and splash us, Precious! That's a meaty mouthful.' Gollum approached Bilbo and Elizabeth but before he could get too close Bilbo placed the tip of his sword on Gollums throat, causing him to retreat in fear.

'Back! Stay back! I'm warning you, don't come any closer!' Bilbo tried not to sound too afraid, but you could still hear the tremble in his voice.

'It's got an elfish blade, but it's not an Elfs. Not an Elfs, no. What is it, Precious? What is it?' Gollum asked looking at Bilbo, slightly confused.

'I am not an elf. My name is Bilbo Baggins'

'Baggines? What is a Bagginses, Precious?'

'I'm a Hobbit from the Shire' Elizabeth lightly slapped his arm as she still clung to it, she was afraid that he might reveal a little too much and put them both in even more danger.

Gollum's eyes lit up. 'Oh! We like Goblinses, batses, and fishes, but we hasn't tried Hobbitses before.' He stopped and stared at Elizabeth tilting his head to the side. 'That is not an Elf. What is it, Precious?'

She looked at Bilbo And he nodded for her to go on.

'I-I'm Elizabeth Winters. I'm a girl, well a hobbit.'

'Winterses. That sounds nasty, I don't like it. Never heard of a Winterses before' He approached her again. 'Is it soft? Is it juicy?'

Bilbo held out his sword in front of him and stood in front of Elizabeth keeping her behind him. 'Now, now, K-keep your distance! I'll use this if I have to!'

Gollum snarled at the pair, causing them to step back. 'Gollum! Gollum!'

'Is that your name, Gollum?' Elizabeth asked before she knew what she was doing. Gollum looked at her, his face softened. 'Gollum. We don't want any trouble, do you understand?' She knelt down so she was nearly eye level with him. 'If you could just show us the way to get out of here, and we'll be on our way'

'Why? Is it lost?'

'Yes we are lost and we want to get out of here as soon as possible.' she spoke softly as if she was speaking to a child.

Upon hearing this, Gollum answered in a different voice than before, this one seemed less sinister. 'We knows! We knows safe paths for Bagginses and Winterses to travel. Safe paths, in the dark!'

Suddenly the voice changed again. 'Shut up!'

Elizabeth and Bilbo exchanged a worried look. 'We didn't say anything.' Bilbo said.

'We wasn't talking to you!' Gollum snapped turning away from them. 'But yes, we was, Precious, we was.'

Bilbo spoke again. 'I do not know what your game is, but we-' A broad smile appeared across Gollum's face and his eyes lit up.

'Games? We love games, doesn't we, Precious?' He jumped up and down on the spot. 'Doesn't it like games? Does it? Does it? Does it like to play?'

Bilbo looked at Elizabeth silently asking for help. 'Yes, we love to play.' she answered.

Gollum held up his hands with a wild grin on his face.

'What has roots as nobody sees, is taller than trees. Up,up,up it goes, and yet, never grows' He recited

Almost immediately Bilbo answered. 'The mountain.'

Gollum began laughing uproariously. 'Yes, oh let's have another one. Come on, do it again, do it – do it again. Ask us' Gollum said before his voice suddenly changed back to its raspy snarls.

'No! No more riddles. Finish them off. Finish them now. Gollum! Gollum!'

Gollum snarled and began sprinting towards Elizabeth screeching at her but Bilbo held out his sword to stop him.

'No! No, no. We wa-We want to play.' He also knelt down just like Elizabeth had done. 'We do. I can see you are very good at this. S-so why don't we have a game of riddles? Yes, just, just you and us?'

Bilbo remained level with Gollum. Elizabeth kept herself pressed herself against the wet rock.

Gollum scuttled forward, close to Bilbo. 'And- and if we win, you show us the way out'

Gollum snarled, turning away from Bilbo, he seemed to be talking to himself. 'And if it loses? What then?'

'Well, if it loses, Precious, we will eats it' Gollum laughed to himself before turning back to Bilbo and Elizabeth. 'If Bagginses and Winterses loses, we eats them whole.'

Hearing this Bilbo instantly reached behind him and grabbed Elizabeth's hand, holding it tightly.

There was a silence for several seconds as Bilbo contemplated the plan, and he knew it was their only way out. 'Fair enough' he finally answered standing up.

'Are you serious?' Elizabeth whispered quietly as Bilbo put his sword away.

'Baggins first' Gollum hissed.

As Bilbo thought of a riddle, Elizabeth was still looking for an escape as she could only see this plan going horribly wrong.

'Thirty white horses on a red hill. First they champ, then they stamp, then they stand still'

As Gollum thought, he kept opening his eyes and mouth as if he knew the answer, then changed his mind. 'Teeth?' He replied questioningly.

Bilbo and Elizabeth looked at each other, both a little worried as the answer was in fact correct. Gollum became ecstatic and laughed heartly. 'Teeth! Yes, my precious. But we- we only have nine' He pulled back his lips, displayed his mouth, showing that he really did only have nine teeth. 'Our turn.'

'Voiceless it cries, wingless flutters, toothless bites, mouthless mutters'

Bilbo walked off thinking. 'Do you know it?' he whispered to Elizabeth but she shook her head, she didn't have a clue. her mind wandered off and she found herself staring at the water of the lake. She thought nothing of it until a soft breeze rippled across the top of the water. She quickly turned and faced Gollum. 'I know the answer. It's wind.'

Gollum snarled in frustration and began scuttling around them, approaching Elizabeth.

Very clever Winterses. Such a clever and pretty little girl!'

He got too close to Elizabeth for Bilbo's comfort and so he pulled out his sword and pointed it at straight at Gollum again. 'Stop there.'

'It's my turn.' he said 'A box without hinges, key o-or, or lid; yet golden treasure inside it hid'

Gollum thought hard, talking to himself and making many hand motions.

'Well?' Elizabeth spoke up.

'It's nasty.'

'Oh, are you giving up?' she asked again.

'No! Give us a chance, Precious, give us a chance!'

In frustration, Gollum pounded the floor, snarling and scrunching up his face. He then suddenly opened his eyes wide as he got the answer.

'Eggses! Eggses!' he laughed.

A sudden noise behind them, made them turn their backs to Gollum for a split second. As they turned back around, they realised that Gollum was gone. Elizabeth's heart was racing again. When Gollum next spoke his voice bounced off different parts of the cave.

'We have one for you - All things it devours, birds, beasts, trees, flowers. Gnaws iron, bites steel, grinds hard stones to meal.'

Bilbo and Elizabeth looked around trying to find where Gollum was hiding. 'Answer us.'

'Give us a moment, please! We gave you a good long while' Bilbo shouted.

They both began to walk in circles looking for Gollum, Bilbo still with his sword drawn.

'I don't know this one. Do you know it?' Bilbo whispered to Elizabeth as he held her close.

'Is it tasty? Is it scrumptious? Is it crunchable?'

Suddenly Gollum jumped from behind Elizabeth and grabbed her harshly by the hair. She screamed in pain as he pulled from her roots. Bilbo reacted quickly and hit Gollum with the handle of his sword, pointing it Gollum as Elizabeth scrambled away from the creature in fear.

'Do not think I will not use this if you touch her again.' Bilbo called. 'Now let us think.'

Gollum smiled sinisterly and shook his head. 'Time's up.' he shifted on his feet, as if preparing to pounce again.

'Time?' Elizabeth muttered. 'Wait a second. The answer is time.' she called out spinning to face Gollum, who snarled in frustration.

'Yeah, actually it wasn't that hard' Bilbo said with a smile and Elizabeth chuckled quietly, still holding onto his arm.

'Okay last question. Last chance. But she's the one to ask us.'

He looked at Elizabeth, she was unsure. 'Go on.'

She looked at Bilbo, trying to think of something she could use.

'I can live without a body, hear without ears, speak with no mouth, to this the air alone gives birth to me.'

It was the only thing she could come up and suddenly realised that this was the most perfect riddle. Gollum could not know the answer. It was almost impossible and she knew that even Bilbo may not know it.

Gollum threw a rock he'd been clutching at Bilbo in frustration, Bilbo made a startled noise And moved back. Gollum leapt off his perch on the rock a crawled towards Elizabeth. She circled the rock, making sure to keep it between them.

'Three guesses, girl. It must give us three!'

'Very well, three guesses.' she replied.

'Heart!'

'Wrong.'

Gollum crouched down to the floor trying to think of the answer. He muttered almost manically to himself and slapped the floor in anger and ferocity as he failed to come up with the right answer.

'Air!'

'Nope, wrong again. Last guess'

'A bear! Wolf!'

'Uh oh two guesses at once. Wrong both times' Upon hearing this, Gollum keeled over on to the floor, sobbing.

Bilbo cautiously approached Gollum, and kept his arm wrapped securely around Elizabeth's waist not wanting to let her go 'Come on then, we won the game. You promised to show us the way out'

'Did we say so, Precious? Did we say so?' Gollum slowly turned around and glared hatefully at the two hobbits. 'What was the answer?' He asked Elizabeth.

Bilbo pointed his sword at Gollum. 'That's not important anymore. You lost.'

'Lost did we? LOST?'

Gollum grinned as he slowly hopped up to Elizabeth and Bilbo. He reached for something hidden in a small pocket on his side. Upon realising that whatever he was looking for was not there, his face was suddenly shocked. He search all over his possession trying to find it.

'Where is it? Where is it?' He screamed. 'NO! NO!'

Gollum began scuttling around the cave floor, throwing bones and rocks as he searched for his lost valuable. He ran to the watch and splashed through the shallows of the lake, his voice breaking as he cried. 'Lost! Curses and splashes, my precious is lost!'

While Gollums back was towards them, they both seemed to realise exactly what it was that Gollum lost. Bilbo quickly took the Ring from his pocket and held it in his hand keeping it behind his back.

'What exactly have you lost?' Elizabeth asked in her gentle voice again.

'No you mustn't ask us! Not its business!' He screeched as he continued to wade the shallows. 'No! Gollum! Gollum!'

He leaned over the shore of the lake, quietly sobbing to himself. He stared into the water, his sobs began to crease and his face suddenly became contorted with anger.

Gollum slowly looked up in horror and fury as he saw Bilbo holding something behind his back. Bilbo pointed his sword at Gollum.

'They stole it. Stole it!' Gollum snarled and threw a large stone at Bilbo. 'THEY STOLE IT!' He quickly deflected it with his sword and grabbed Elizabeth's trembling hand.

'RUN!'


End file.
